Another Side
by Shadow-Gibson
Summary: Who is the young teen living at the salvage yard?  That's what Chance and Jake want to know when they take up their duties at the salvage yard just after they'd been kicked off the force.   Story has been rewritten. changed rating for language.
1. Chapter 1: New Circumstances

**ANOTHER SIDE**

_**A/N: My first attempt at writing, please be kind. Thanks to ulyferal for being my beta and helping me improve my writing skills.**__**  
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Chapter One: New Circumstances

A chase after a fleeing criminal in a fast moving jet, a crippling hit by their superior to their own jet, sends the enforcer crew, pilot and gunner, bailing out at the last minute as their plane makes a spectacular and destructive nose dive onto the flight line of the newly built Enforcer Twin Towers. Said pilots parachuted down to the street, safe and unharmed.

As they stood staring up at the flaming mess that was the flight line, both shook their heads in dismay. Behind them a very angry tom dressed in the uniform of the Enforcer Commander stormed up and began to shout at the pair.

"You have disobeyed my orders for the last time!"

The muscular, yellow tabby, pilot turned to face his angry superior. "It was our tag, Commander! None of this would have happened if you hadn't interfered, sir," he said through gritted teeth, eyes flashing with fury.

"That's it! You're off the force...both of you!" The Commander snapped, coldly.

The gunner and pilot shrugged, faces angry as they turned about on their heels. They ripped their helmets off their heads and tossed them to the sidewalk behind them as they stalked away from their former Commander.

The gunner growled, "suits us...who needs this crud anyway!"

But a voice behind them barked, "Just a minute! I said you were off the force but not off the hook!"

The two stopped in their tracks and turned their heads to stare at the furious Commander in confusion and worry.

They found out only too soon what the Commander had in store for them. Just a couple of weeks later and late in the afternoon, they reported to their new work place and home. It seemed they were still attached to the enforcers but their new duties were to run the salvage yard while their pay went to paying the debt that had been laid on them for rebuilding the enforcer flight line.

Their punishment lay all around them as they drove their old sedan into a yard filled with salvage in neat stacks, some of it military hardware, others junked cars, used building materials, tanks of fuel and huge machines that moved or flattened the stuff, and storage buildings. A high fence ran around the huge property that covered a city block and a big sign sat at one corner that said, 'Megakat City Salvage Yard'.

The building that sat near the gate to the yard was an old brick one with a two stall garage and an equally old apartment dwelling sitting on top of it.

The pair pulled up to the front of this building in their old sedan and got out. The big blond tabby stared around him in dismay. He was wearing a white shirt with red sleeves, blue jeans, and a pair of red tennis shoes.

His partner's face wasn't any happier as he too stared around. The slim tom was wearing a button down blue shirt, dark blue slacks and a pair of brown shoes. His brown eyes narrowed as he studied what would be their new home as well as job.

Waiting for them were two dirty looking toms. Evil grins graced their scruffy faces. One of the pair was very short and barely came up to his companion's waist while the other was very tall and fat.

"Hey look, Burke. it's those two hotshots who wrecked the new Enforcer building," the short one said, smirking.

"Don't look so hot, now, do they, Murray?" the big one, named Burke agreed then looked at the dismayed pair and said, "Hey! Commander Feral says you guys gotta run the salvage yard 'till you pay back every penny it costs to rebuild the Enforcer flight line."

"Yeah, and at your present salary, it'll only take a thousand years!" Murray cackled.

"Take care of the place now and the little brat," Burke sang out, tossing a set of keys at the big tabby who caught them easily.

"We'll be checkin' up on ya!" Murray cackled, climbing into a huge dump truck's passenger seat while his heavy companion got behind the wheel. The two roared with laughter as they drove out of the yard, leaving behind a belch of exhaust in their wake.

"This can't be happening, Jake! We're pilots, not junkmen and what the heck did that fat idiot mean by 'look after the little brat'?" The pilot hissed, kicking some of the junk.

"I've no clue, Chance," the slim tom, named Jake said, shrugging, his face showing concern and unhappiness. "It does look bad and we've no choice either. As for the brat...I guess they mean someone is living here...though how that can be..." He let his sentence drift off as he headed for the garage.

Still angry, the tabby followed his partner. Inside the garage only one of the two stalls had a car in it. Nearby, against a wall was a work bench holding mechanic's tools and parts. In the occupied stall they saw a young tom Kat, his back to them, working on an old Camero. They could hear him twisting a socket wrench as they got closer to him.

"Hello..." Jake called out.

The Kat stood up and turned around to stare at them. Chance blinked in surprise. The youngster looked a lot like Jake in color and build but had light green eyes instead of the brown Jake sported as well as having a mop of black hair that hung to just past his neck while Jake only had a thatch of red hair atop his head. The young Kat's name was sewn on his mechanic's overall.

"Hello, welcome to Megakat Auto Repair and Towing," the kitten said, wiping his paws on a rag then extended his right paw toward them. "My name's Garrett. How may I help you?"

Jake shook it then Chance. "Uh, hi...actually, we're here because we were ordered to start work here in the salvage yard. Didn't know there was someone living here though," Jake told him.

Garrett's eyes widened. "Oh, so you're the two that destroyed the new flight line!"

Chance scowled and crossed his arms over his chest as he said, indignantly, "our jet may have hit it but it wasn't our fault that it crashed at all! Our Commander clipped our jet with his own because he wanted to be a hero and take out Dark Kat himself."

Garrett's eyes narrowed, a frown on his face. "That's not what I was told."

"Why were you told anything and who told you in the first place?" Jake demanded, not happy their disgrace was being bandied about to complete strangers.

In answer, Garrett walked away toward the back of the garage and through a door that led to a small office. He went to the desk and picked up a thin file he'd received in the mail recently. The two toms had followed him so when he turned around they were there already when waved the folder at them.

"This came in the mail and told me to expect two guys who were on the outs with the enforcers, what you'd done and what you were expected to do here," he explained. He set the folder back on the desk. "However, I didn't believe what they'd said about you being at fault for it all. Burke and Murray brought in your jet a few days ago and I decided to take a look at it. My investigation found there were traces of paint from another jet on the left wing and the damage pattern clearly showed the wing had been struck in the air before it hit the ground.

Both toms stared at the youngster in disbelief and surprise. Jake finally shook his head and asked, "what are you a junior CSI?"

Garrett blushed and shrugged. "I've worked here a good portion of my life and have a thing for machines and all things mechanical. I like taking things apart and seeing how they work and I've learned to be observant. This helps in my business as I'm able to tell owners exactly what happened to their car in an accident."

"Well, that's fantastic, so you believe we weren't at fault, eh?" Chance said, amazed at the teen's abilities and intelligence.

"Yeah, but not just because the jet clearly shows someone else hit you. The enforcers also sent me copies of your personnel files. I didn't like that as I didn't feel it was right to be poking into other people's personal stuff."

"Why the heck would they send our personnel folders to you?" Jake asked, getting really angry, not at Garrett but at Feral.

"Well, they said it was for my own safety, my being so young and alone, you see. They said you were trouble makers and that I needed to be aware of it and protect myself. I just didn't buy that at all. But..." he shrugged and blushed, "...I thought I should read the files just to be on the safe side. Those records didn't show a pair of bad cops but quite the opposite. Oh sure, there were reports of misconduct but they were minor compared to the citations for bravery and other things you've done. Besides, I've watched you two on the news a lot. You, Chance are an awesome pilot. Some of those maneuvers you do are just breathtaking and take a really skilled pilot to do safely."

A grin of pleasure flashed across Chance's face at the compliment.

"And Jake, your gunnery skills are nothing short of amazing. Your accuracy rate is higher than anyone on record. Then there's your brilliant and inventive mind which earned you many an award. That's incredible for someone as young as you," Garrett said, earnestly.

Jake blushed at all the good comments. "Aww thanks, but I'm not all that smart."

Garrett shook his head, "yeah, right...well everyone else that wrote a report on you seems to think you are. They can't all be wrong."

Both toms blushed.

"Well thanks, Garrett. It's nice to know we have a fan," Jake said, scratching his head in mild embarrassment.

Garrett raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. "Oh, I'm not really a fan, it's just that I admire your skills is all."

Chance gave the teen a smug, knowing look. "Sounds more like a fan to me."

Garrett rolled his eyes and snorted. "So, you've arrived just as I was getting ready to close up shop for the day. Tomorrow I'll get you some overalls then sew your names on them. Let me get this place locked down then I'll give you a tour of your new home." He nodded at the two then went outside to close and lock the gates to the yard then returned to pull down the doors to the stalls before turning to take them on a tour.

"Well, as you can see, this is the garage, office, and here is the waiting area with small bathroom," Garrett led them to the rear of the first stall.

The pair peered into the office they were already standing near as they waited for Garrett to lock up and it was rather small inside. It had a beat up old desk, filing cabinet, and small safe in a corner. Next to the office was a rather large waiting room which boasted a small fridge, a microwave beside it on a small cupboard, an old couch, a TV on a small table, a long scarred coffee table, a pin ball machine, a magazine rack with a couple of car mags, comics, and a house and garden mag in it. In the far corner was a small bathroom with only a toilet, sink and tub sink in it. It was clean and tidy despite how old it looked.

Chance noted the TV was a 15" newer model and there was a DVD player beneath it. A small stack of DVD's were next to that. "Nice TV."

"Yeah, I found that in the junk that had arrived a while back. It wasn't even broken that much...just some wires and a few parts needed replacing.

"Really, and you fixed it?" Jake asked, eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Well, yeah. It's not that much more different than working on a car, you know. I do a lot of that as the salvage yard has a lot of cool stuff coming in that sometimes only need very little to fix them." Garrett shook his head. "It's amazing how much good stuff people throw out."

"Wow, sounds like a cool way to get new stuff without buying it," Jake agreed, his mind suddenly seeing an even better use for all the junk out in the yard but said nothing, wanting to let it jell in his mind first.

Outside the two rooms was a staircase and they trooped up them. "Okay, here's the apartment we're going to share. This is the living room, obviously," Garrett said, gesturing to a nicer set up than downstairs with a big couch, side chair, another TV in an entertainment center, a game machine, DVD player, a bookcase was next to this and the floor was covered with a clean but worn brown carpet. The single window looked out over the yard. There were two archways to the left of the living room.

"This is the kitchen," he said, stepping into the small space that held a bigger fridge, stove, microwave, and a small kitchen table with four chairs. "I prefer a clean environment so if you guys don't mind, try to keep things tidy, hmm?"

"Oh sure, no problem. We're kinda of the organized kind as well...well I am at least," Jake smirked, giving his partner a sneaky look.

"Hey, I clean...just not my room," Chance muttered, defensively. Garrett just chuckled.

There was a door in one corner near the stove. "Now I think you might like this," Garrett said, walking over and opening the door.

"Oh nice, small but nice," Jake commented as he stared at the tiny patio that had an old metal table with umbrella, two lounge chairs and a small barbecue in the corner near the wall.

"Yeah, it's great when it gets too hot inside," Garrett said.

They stepped back inside and he took them to the other archway. "Okay, here's the bedrooms. This one is mine," he said as he reached for a door with a railroad crossing sign adorning it.

When he opened the door, the pair could see a tidy room with a made bed covered in camo sheets, big pillow and blanket. A desk in some warm wood sat under the window with a chair of the same color as well as a dresser near the closet. Some posters adorned the walls as a finishing touch, mostly train images. A laptop sat on the desk with some textbooks and a gooseneck lamp in black behind them.

Jake noticed the books and a backpack that was on the chair. Hm I wonder what school he goes to? I'll have to ask him later.

Jake and Chance admired the cozy looking bedroom. "Nice set up," Jake said while Chance continued to look around then noticed some model trains on a shelf above the head of the bed.

"Hey, I see you like trains."

"Yeah, I do. They were my dad's. He liked to collect them 'til..." Garrett halted as if what he said was upsetting to him. "He gave them to me," he finished rather lamely.

Jake and Chance shared a significant look. Both had a suspicion about the teens missing parents but said nothing.

Smoothing over the obviously difficult moment, Jake asked lightly, "so where's our room or rooms?"

"It's rooms, fortunately this place is larger than it looks," Garrett said, grateful for the change in subject. "The bathroom is across from my room there and you two have the end two rooms. When I was told I would be getting room mates, I had them fixed up. I'm assuming you guys lived in a dorm and not in an apartment so don't have any furniture of your own..." his voice trailed off, a questioning note in.

"You'd be right and thanks for making the effort. We've got some of our stuff in the car, the rest we have to go get from a temp storage unit we put it in," Chance said, grimacing. He hated packing up his room at the enforcer building, it reminded him too much on how much he'd lost.

The rooms Garrett showed them were simple but warm. The walls were in a bland cream color and there was a full size bed in each with a dresser and desk with lamp and even a small chair in the corner near the closets. Each had a single window as well.

"Nice digs. I like it," Jake said, grateful he didn't have to worry about finding furniture or living in a dump. Chance was equally grateful and gave Garrett a big smile.

"This is really great, Garrett. I was worried I'd have to go out and get a bed. I'll be comfortable in here," Chance said.

"That's great. Glad you like it. So there's one more place I need to show you guys," Garrett said mysteriously as he led them back down the hall then down the stairs again.

"Gee, what more could you be showing us? We don't need to see the yard right now..." Jake began.

"Nope, not the yard but beneath it."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, there's a bunker beneath this building and the yard."

"A bunker?" Both tom's blurted in unison.

"Yeah, it's an old enforcer hangar I think. Been around since Megawar II according to some dusty manuals I found laying around," Garrett explained as he led them to the back of the garage and lifted up a barely seen manhole cover in the floor revealing a deep hole.

Before going down, Jake and Chance stared at each other in consternation before Jake turned to Garrett and said, "we've never read about an old hangar being here."

The teen scratched his neck and shrugged. "Apparently no one seems to remember it being here. Don't know if the information got lost or what but I couldn't find it in the records anywhere."

"Did you report it?" Chance asked.

"I was going to but...well things got busy...other things happened in my life, so I just forgot."

"You forgot?" Jake asked, scandalized. Something like this needed to be immediately reported but this kitten had sat on the information.

Garrett snorted, not seeing what the big deal was about. He stuck his tongue out at Jake. "So?"

"So, you could get into a lot of trouble not reporting it to the enforcers," Jake said, sternly.

"Aw, I doubt that. Besides, I think it's a better idea not telling them. Wait until you see it. I managed to get the lights working. Come on!" Not waiting for them to argue more about it, Garrett turned and climbed down a ladder that was affixed to the cement wall of the tube leading down into the dark.

Jake and Chance stared at each other for a moment, then Chance shrugged. "Maybe he's right. Let's just go see."

His partner sighed but followed readily. Soon the two of them were standing on a landing at the bottom of the ladder. The lights suddenly flicked on and the two stood there gaping at the huge space. It was obviously big enough to hold at least a couple of planes. Old equipment and benches dotted the landscape and they could see some rooms off to one side one with a glass door to it.

"Well what do you think? The wiring is really old..." Garrett said, smiling at their stunned looks.

"I'll be damned...just look at this place," Chance whistled as he went down the steps of the landing to the main floor of the hangar. "And the enforcers don't know about this place," he asked again, finding it hard to believe that a place this big could have been missed by the enforcers in the first place.

"Nope, I swear they don't. They keep a listing of all military facilities but this one somehow managed to escape being listed. I suspect it was some kind of repair facility for enforcer vehicles. It also happens to have a huge boneyard of destroyed aircraft and tanks at the far back area."

This huge place combined with all the salvage stored above were adding up to a really incredible idea germinating in Jake's brain. Before he voiced what he had in mind, he needed to speak to his partner in private. What he had in mind could change their lives in a really significant way.

"So, you going to report this to the enforcers?" Garrett's voice was a bit strained and anxious. "I hope you don't as I kinda would like to continue to tinker with all the stuff down here and I just like the idea of having a place like this that no one knows about."

Jake eyed him seriously. "We won't tell anyone about it, Garrett. Promise." Though a bit surprised, Chance added his promise to his partners.

Garret smiled in relief. ""Thanks, there's so much history here so I thought it would be awesome to study it and who knows maybe get it running again. Oh, there's something else I've got down here that I thought you'd especially like. Come on, let me show you." He led them over to where Chance had noted the glass door. When he opened it, Chance's mouth dropped open.

"This is a workout room I made for you two," Garrett said proudly.

Inside the pair could see a padded floor, a treadmill in one corner, some weights and a bench with a bar on top of it for bench presses next to it, a mirror on the wall, and a stationary bike. A large area of floor was apparently where one could do martial arts and a boxing bag hung in another corner. In front of the treadmill and workout bench was a small table with a TV sitting on it.

"Aw Sweet!" Chance shouted as he went towards the bench and lifted the bar up.

"You put this together for us?" Jake asked Garrett, pleased and amazed the teen had thought of it.

"Yep! I had my mom and dad's equipment in the basement of our old home so all I needed to do was dust, put down the flooring, mirrors, add the boxing bag and bike from the salvage to finish it up. I just thought you two might want to stay in shape."

"Wow, thanks." Jake smiled walked around the room checking out all the equipment.

"Well, at least we won't lose our fitness we'd gained being in the enforcers," Chance said, very pleased as he placed the bar back in place.

"Well, that's about it guys. Welcome to your new home," Garrett said, smiling.

Pleased and happy about their new situation a little more than when they arrived, though it didn't change the fact they weren't enforcers any longer, Jake and Chance followed Garrett back up to the garage.

"Hey, we might as well unload our car. Want to give us a paw?" Jake asked, heading outside.

"Oh sure."

For the next twenty minutes, the three unloaded the car and carried things up to the two bedrooms. When they finished, Garrett locked up then suggested dinner.

"Good idea, I'm famished but why don't you let us order pizza, our treat," Chance offered.

"Great idea," Garrett's face lit up.

Snickering at how happy the kit was, Chance ordered from their favorite place and an hour later they were chowing down and watching TV.

It was late and they were all tired. It had been a long day of moving for the pair and busy work day for Garrett. Since tomorrow was a Saturday, they could finish moving in and have a talk with the young Kat. He knew a lot about them but they knew next to nothing about him.

Jake wanted to rectify that as soon as possible. Saying good night to their new room mate, the two ex-enforcers went to bed.


	2. Chapter 2: Who is Garrett?

ANOTHER SIDE

Chapter Two: Who is Garrett?

Next morning, Garrett was the first to wake. During the week, he always woke up two hours early so he could have time for breakfast and watch a little TV before going off to school. Today, though, was Saturday and since there were no cars to work on, he'd slept a little longer than usual but still ended up rising before his new room mates. Smiling to himself, he was looking forward to making breakfast for his new workers.

Jake woke to the smell of bacon...it was heavenly. He shot up from bed and made for the bathroom. Showering quickly, he dressed then rapped his knuckles on his partner's door before opening it to peer in. No surprise, his friend was still asleep.

Shaking his head, Jake went over to the bed and yanked the covers off the tabby.

"Hmm ... huh...wha?" Chance croaked, groggily, staring blearily up at Jake. He yawned. "What time is it?"

"Not too early but Garrett is apparently making us breakfast so it would be rude not to show up...so get up now!" Jake said, amused.

Groaning, Chance sat up and rubbed his head. "He must be an early riser like you, no fair!" he groused. Jake just chuckled and left him to get up and going.

Jake followed the tantalizing scent of bacon down the hall and around the corner to the kitchen. With his back to him, he saw Garrett at the stove, a plate full of bacon beside him while he flipped eggs in the skillet. A pile of toast with butter on the side was on the already set table and the odor of fresh coffee brewing filled the air. Jake drooled at all the wonderful smells and great looking food.

Garrett sensed someone behind him and turned his head. Smiling broadly at the slim built tom he asked,. "Hungry?

"Oh yeah! Is all that for us?"

"Of course," Garrett chuckled as he put a pile of eggs on a plate. "Have a seat." He took the skillet off the stove and turned off the burner then took both serving dishes and placed them on the table. "Here you go...eat up. Where's Chance?" he asked as he took his own seat

"Aw, he's not much for getting up early so I woke him," Jake smirked. "He'll be down in a few minutes."

"Okay, we'll just save some for him. Dig in."

Grinning, Jake loaded his plate up, went and got himself some coffee, mugs were near at paw, then returned to the table to eat. "Hmm, wow this is great... better than the stuff we ate at the Enforcer dining hall."

"Thanks, glad you like it," Garrett said, blushing with pleasure at the compliment.

At that moment, Chance came in yawning, his nose twitching at the smell of good food. "Wow, nice spread. You didn't have to do this for us but thanks." He too grabbed a mug of coffee then sat down to serve himself.

"Where'd ya learn how to cook?" Chance asked between mouthfuls of delicious eggs.

"My mom. She insisted I know how to fend for myself," Garrett said, shrugging.

"Obviously one very smart she-kat and you take lessons well," Jake grinned.

Garrett just smiled, pleased they enjoyed the meal and he was also happy to note what good manners the two toms had. It made him feel more at ease with them.

After breakfast, the two adults insisted on doing the cleanup. Garrett was pleased and surprised but let them do what they wanted and went to the living room to watch some TV. Thirty minutes later, the pair came out of the kitchen and joined him.

Chance noted the kitten was watching a Scaredy Kat cartoon. "Cool! You like him too?"

Garrett eyed him in surprise. An adult didn't normally care for this cartoon. "Oh yeah! It's my favorite."

"We're going to get along just great," the big tabby said happily as he settled down to watch his fav show. Soon the air was filled with their laughter.

Jake just shook his head, not endeared of the show at all. Finding an interesting magazine he settled down in the armchair and began to read. When the show was over, he set aside the magazine and cleared his throat to get Chance and Garrett's attention. They eyed him questioningly.

"I think we need to have a talk. You know a lot about us, at least our career and the basics about our backgrounds. You'll learn more about us personally when we interact around here. But, we know nothing of you. How did you come to be here...alone?" Jake asked quietly.

Chance shut the TV off and relaxed back into the couch, paws folded over his chest, waiting for Garrett to answer the question.

Garrett eyed them both for a long moment then sighed mentally. Well they were going to be living close so they had a right to know who he was, but his past was difficult to talk about because it still made him very sad despite how long ago it was.

"Well my dad used to work here when he was in high school, managing to get Burke and Murray to allow him to live there when he was in college for a couple of years until he met my mom and decided to quit. They moved to the mountains north of here and that's where I was born. My father ran a garage up there and taught me every thing he knew from the time I could understand him to when I was eleven." He paused and swallowed, turning his gaze away from them to stare out the window, this next part was hard to talk about.

"One day, just after my thirteenth birthday, two years ago, we were on an expedition during the winter along with three other Kats. Two days out, an avalanche struck, sweeping away my parents and the other three Kats but somehow missing me." He shuddered as he remembered the screams as the snow swept the others away. It still haunted his dreams even now.

In a small voice he struggled to continue, "I was numb with shock and cold when I was found by the rescue team. It wasn't until Spring that my parent's bodies were found."

"Oh, Garrett, we're so sorry for your loss. It must have been a terrible thing for one so young to go through," Jake exclaimed, eyes horrified and saddened. He went to the kitten's side and hugged him gently.

Garrett was surprised and warmed by the gesture. Normally, he didn't want anyone's pity and didn't show much emotion on the subject, but Jake was different. He could tell the tom wasn't just saying he was sorry...he meant it. That was far different from all the others he'd been forced to tell the story to who just said they were sorry but were more concerned about what to do with him than how he was feeling. So he didn't object to Jake's honest desire to comfort him.

In a gentle coaxing voice, Jake asked, "so who took care of you when you were left alone? Weren't there aunts, uncles, cousins?"

Chance was leaning forward, his elbows resting on his knees, ready to offer comfort if the teen needed more than Jake was giving him and listening closely. Inside he was badly shaken. Crud! What an awful thing to endure to one so young.

"N..nno...my parents had no siblings...their parents were dead...no cousins were found...I was a complete orphan. I...I was in the care of the Kitten's Welfare Department for a few weeks until Matthew could get a judge to allow him guardianship of me."

"Matthew? Who's that and where is he?" Chance asked, wondering how this kitten was living here and running a garage all alone.

"He was my father's family lawyer. He looked out for dad all his life then my mom when she entered the picture. When I came along he was introduced to me when I was about six years old. He's a nice tom who cares about me. So when my parents were...taken...from me, he went to the courts to have him made my guardian. He could legally handle my affairs, see that I was clothed, fed, received medical care, and attended school but couldn't have me live with him as he lived in an adult community."

Scandalized, Chance interrupted, "so...what...he let you live here?"

"I wanted to. Matthew wanted to find a new place so that I could live with him but I told him no. I felt I was old enough to live on my own and wanted to do so at this garage where my father had such good times and met my mother. He was reluctant at first, but after speaking with Burke and Murray, he got them to allow me to live here and to work at the garage."

"Oh, I really can't see those two doing something nice like that from the goodness of their hearts," Chance scoffed.

"Oh you know those two well, huh?" Garrett managed a ghost of a smile. "Well, you'd be right. Without Matthew's knowledge, the two made a deal with me. For a price, I would be allowed to live and work here as long as I kept the yard clean and sorted and continued to work on cars."

Jake and Chance's eyebrows went up and their fur rose with anger. Chance growled, "price?...you mean like paying rent?"

"Those bastards!" Jake hissed.

Garrett was startled by their anger, his ears laying flat, concerned he'd done something wrong. "Well, it didn't seem unreasonable to me as I had no income. Matthew said I couldn't get my trust fund left by my parents until I was eighteen so I needed to make an income. He did provide me a small amount of money each month for clothes, things for school, and food but that's all he could do. I learned to manage my money very well, better than my classmates and I enjoy working on cars," he defended his and his lawyer's actions.

Jake and Chance exchanged glances. This situation was really screwy but it apparently worked for Garrett so they let it go.

"So you think of this guy Matthew as family, huh? Think we could meet him? After all, we're going to be living with a minor and we should see if your guardian is alright with this."

"Oh, he knows about you already. I told him when I was informed by the enforcers. He checked you out and was pleased I would have such fine upstanding tom's living with me, not believing the recent gossip about you either. And, yeah, he's planning on coming over tomorrow evening to meet you."

"Oh, okay, that's great. So who's presently in charge of the garage then...Burke and Murray?" Chance asked, changing the subject a bit.

Garrett snorted. "They don't own the garage, the city does. They just are in charge of its upkeep but haven't bothered since they have me living in it and taking care of that."

"While making you pay for the privilege. Garrett that's just wrong and has to stop. Since they receive a salary from the city to haul junk and you run the garage not them, they can't ask you for anymore money," Jake said firmly.

Garrett stared at him in shocked surprise. "But..."

"No. I understand why you did what you did but what those two did to you is wrong and will stop," Chance added, just as firmly.

Garrett didn't know if he should be glad or worried but these were two adults and they certainly knew more than he did. He was kinda glad now that he did have someone take over. It made him feel a bit more protected. He gave them a small smile.

"Okay, if you say so."

"Good. So, how do you want to work out the chain of command here?" Jake asked.

"Uh, well, you guys are older than me...I just thought you'd take over though I insist on being allowed to work in the garage as I have been."

"Sure, we have no quarrel with that, but you are still in school...when did you even have time to run the garage?" Chance asked.

"Oh, I work for about four hours after I get home during the week and all day Saturday. I just didn't have any work today which doesn't happen too often."

"The sign says towing is done but I wouldn't think you were old enough." Jake eyed him questioningly.

"I'm not, I only have a learner's permit so I'm not allowed to drive the tow truck which is parked behind the building. Customers that need a tow must call an outside towing company to bring it here."

"You must be good for people to be willing to do that rather than just go to a mechanic's shop that does do its own towing," Chance said thoughtfully.

Garrett smiled proudly. "I'm the best around and have a customer base of over a hundred customers."

"Really? That's great news. It so happens we're very good mechanics as well so we can now take customers while you're at school and bring in more cash as our pay is totally garnished by the enforcers," Chance grimaced at the reminder of just how poor he was going to be.

"Gee, that means we can get more customers in here because you guys can do the towing. That's great," Garrett said, pleased at the new arrangements.

They had been talking most of the morning and now it was lunch time. They took a break and made some sandwiches and while they ate, Garrett learned a little more about the two of them.

He learned that Jake came from a wealthy family and was an only kit like himself but Chance was raised on a farm with four siblings. That information made Garrett a little envious of of the tabby and he said so.

"Trust me, it isn't all its cracked up to be. Being in the middle meant putting up with crap from my older sib and getting hand me downs to wear and with the two younger ones, it meant I was forever being their sitter. I would have loved to have been an only child," Chance had snorted.

Garrett could commiserate but still wished he'd been so fortunate.

When lunch was over, the two announced their need to retrieve the rest of their belongings from storage. Garrett happily volunteered to help. He showed them the tow truck which could hold a bit of stuff and Chance decided to drive that with Garrett keeping him company while Jake drove their sedan.

It took them two trips to collect everything then the rest of the afternoon for them to unpack and put away their things. Garrett hung around and asked about their time in the enforcers and they asked more about his life in the mountains.

When the work was done, they went out to a Chinese place for dinner, Garrett laughing as he tried to learn how to use chopsticks. Chance was no good at it but Jake was a champ and tried to show Garrett who finally managed to make them work a little bit much to his delight.

The evening was spent watching TV and relaxing until it was bed time. As Garrett laid in bed staring at the ceiling, he thought how his life had changed and what it was going to be like living with two such nice Kats around. He couldn't help smiling as this was the happiest he'd been in a long while and he couldn't wait to tell Matthew about them when he saw him tomorrow evening. He knew his guardian would be just as happy as he was. With that last thought, he drifted off to sleep, his smile still on his face.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Thanks to ulyferal for beta testing this story


	3. Chapter 3: Fun for a Day

**ANOTHER SIDE**

Chapter 3: Fun for a Day

Sunday rose bright and sunny. Garrett had risen as usual around eight o'clock and puttered around the kitchen. This time he made pancakes, sausages, apple slices, and served milk. Jake was up nearly the same time and came in to help smiling warmly at the industrious kitten.

"Hey, it being Sunday, what say we go have some fun together?"

Garrett eyed him from the stove, questioningly. "What did you have in mind?"

"How about going to Megakat Amusement Park? Have you been there?"

"No, heard about it of course from my class mates but never had the time or money to go. You really want to take me there? But you don't have to..."

Jake raised a paw. "We may not have a break again for a long time and can really use it right now. We were due to go on vacation before we were booted out. Before we plunge into working in a garage, we need to get away and no way would we leave you here while we had fun. So you want to go?"

"Hell, yes!" Garrett said, grinning from ear to ear. He served up the pancakes and set them on the table.

"What's all the excitement?" Chance asked, yawning and stretching as he finally put in an appearance.

"I was just telling Garrett that we should go have some fun today," Jake told his partner.

"Yeah, going to the Megakat Amusement Park!" the teen crowed.

Chance grinned in amusement at the excited kitten. "We are huh? Yeah, why not, we've not been there in a while."

"That's why I suggested it. We haven't had a break and we'll be busy here for quite a while so ..."

"...now's a good time for it...I agree, buddy," Chance finished for him. He sat down and grabbed some pancakes and poured syrup on them. "If you keep feeding us this way Garrett, we'll really need that fitness room," he joked.

Garrett grinned as he too dug into his food.

They finished breakfast then cleaned up before preparing to leave for the day. The three climbed into they guy's sedan and were off with Garrett excitedly chattering about what rides he wanted to go on when they got there. The adults smiled in amusement and pleasure, looking forward to a bit of fun themselves but especially making the young tom happy.

The day was as much fun as they hoped it would be. Garrett rode all the rides, the roller coaster being his favorite, riding that three times with each of the guys going with him. They played some of the arcade games.

It didn't seem fair to have such a sharp shooter testing his mettle against such easy targets but Garrett didn't care as he came away with an armful of prizes from Jake's skills. Chance wasn't too bad either, garnering him a giant snake stuffy that was presently wrapped around the big tabby as teen's arms were too full.

They ate cotton candy, hot dogs, burgers and some interesting new foods, watched the rodeo and checked out all the product booths.

By the time the sun was sinking in the sky, they were all tired, full and happy. They picked up dinner items at the fair and took them home to eat in the quiet of the apartment.

Garrett hauled his booty to his room the moment they arrived.

"The kitten's flying high, buddy," Chance chuckled as he unwound the snake and laid it on the couch until Garrett could come get it.

"Yeah, he had a great time and I'm glad we took him," Jake smiled then took their food to the kitchen, Chance trailing after him.

Chance helped Jake get plates, filled glasses with milk and set things on the table. The tabby glanced up at the clock on the wall, it was going on seven.

"That lawyer friend of Garrett's should be here any minute," he observed.

"Yeah, we got home just in time," Jake sighed, getting an extra chair for the added place setting for their guest.

Garrett came sailing into the kitchen minutes later and was about to say something when their bell at the gate rang. "I'll get it!" he sang out, turning on his heel and going downstairs.

Minutes later, he returned, talking animatedly to an older tom who listened and smiled warmly at the excited teen. The two paused in the living area as Garrett caught the lawyer up on his day.

This gave Chance and Jake a moment to study the male from the archway of the kitchen. What they saw was a tom who stood as tall as Chance but was as thin and wiry as Jake but not as muscular. He had white fur and looked to be of Persian mix. At a guess, Jake would have said he was around his mid-fifties in age. There were laugh lines around his eyes and mouth showing a good natured soul. His sky blue eyes were fixed on the teen, giving him his full attention but the pair didn't miss the quick glance they were given from those sharp eyes the instant he seen them. Though it was Sunday, the tom wore a very nice dark blue suit, white shirt and navy tie. A shiny pair of black oxfords shod his feet.

When Garrett finally ran out of steam and Matthew had asked questions about his day and how he was handling having new room mates, the old tom turned his full attention to said newcomers.

Garrett quickly made the introductions when Chance and Jake stepped into the room. "Matthew, may I introduce Chance Furlong and Jake Clawson."

Matthew shook both the tom's paws and nodded his head gravely at them. "Sirs, it is a pleasure to finally meet you. I've heard good things about you and am very glad Garrett is no longer alone here."

"Have no fear, sir. We'll treat him as one of our own and see to his welfare if it pleases you," Chance said formally, his voice clearly carrying his sincerity.

Under all the polite talk, Chance and Jake could hear Matthew sizing them up as they were doing to him. The tom was sharp-eyed and intelligent and exuded a kindly warmth about him. They could see why Garrett trusted him.

"Food's getting cold. Let's head on into the kitchen, shall we..." Jake said, gesturing toward the kitchen.

Garrett led the way and pointed to the chair for Matthew. They served up the interesting food from the fair and it wasn't long before Matthew was asking the two toms probing questions about themselves, how they felt about being booted out, and what their feelings were about being saddled with running the salvage yard and riding herd over a young teen. d then to check up on them until we get to a chapter to he can trust them to be his guardians.

Jake was the first to address their feelings as Chance wasn't one to talk about his own. "Well, you understand, its only been a couple of weeks since we got the boot and only two days since we got here so we haven't had time to process much about anything."

"You have had enough time to develop a fine hatred of Commander Feral for the unjust treatment you received, though," Matthew said, pointedly.

Chance colored at the mention of his former leader and Jake's face and eyes reflected his own cold anger at their situation.

"I won't lie and say we've accepted it. It rankles and most likely will for some time..." Jake said, carefully.

"That bastard took our life away and gave us this," Chance hissed, a lot more expressive than his partner, spreading his arms to encompass the salvage yard.

Matthew eyed them both and nodded. "I wish there was something the law could do but politics in this matter will ensure the case gets snarled up for years. It's not right, I certainly agree, but my main concern is...will it rankle you so badly that you will have a great deal of difficulty adjusting to being out? My reason for asking is my concern for Garrett around you during this most difficult time of adjustment for you both."

Both toms flicked a silent glance at each other for some minutes before Jake returned his attention to Matthew.

He spread his paws and said earnestly, "of course we're going to be bitter but we're not the type to hold grudges, we move on and do what we've been ordered to do no matter how onerous we find it. Eventually, with hard work and planning, we may pull ourselves out of here or Feral will finally be brought to trial for what he did. Either way, it will be a long wait and we're resigned to that."

Matthew studied the two for some minutes then nodded slowly. "Thank you for being so candid with me. I don't blame you for your anger but I now feel comfortable about Garrett living here with you. I'm certain you'll protect him with your lives, I can tell. Your reputation was protecting the innocent in an almost heroic way," he said, smiling.

Both toms blushed.

"I want to thank you for the fine dinner but I must be going. Garrett will you see me out?" Matthew asked, getting up from his seat. He looked the two once more as they too rose from their seats. "It was good to meet you. I'll be checking in with Garrett from time to time and will be pleased to speak with you again at those times. In the meantime, if there is ever a problem, please don't hesitate to call me. Here is my business card." He handed Jake his card then followed Garrett out.

"Nice fellow," Chance commented.

"Yeah, Garret was lucky to have him as a guardian," Jake murmured, tucking the business card in his pocket.

When Garrett returned to the kitchen, he saw the guys were cleaning up and were nearly done. "Gee, its great having someone else do the chores," he said cheekily.

"Yeah, well, don't get too used to it as you will have to take your turn as well," Chance snorted, amused.

"Well, of course...I don't shirk my duties," Garrett said haughtily, then laughed for the sheer joy of it. It had been a glorious day and he was greatly pleased Matthew accepted these two so easily.

"Say, what school do you go to?" Jake suddenly asked.

Garrett wrinkled his nose at the question, not wanting to be reminded of school the next day. He sighed and said, "West Megakat High, I'm a junior."

Chance led the way to the living room and asked, "so what classes are you taking?"

"Geometry, French, English, History, Gym, and Driving Class."

"Well, at least we don't have to teach you to drive, just insure you get driving time," Chance commented.

Garrett eyed him in pleased surprise, "you'd be willing to do that?"

"Of course! You do have to be able to drive the cars in the lot and the tow truck," Chance snorted, amused and warmed by the look on Garrett's face.

"Thank you, but I can drive just not legally," Garrett said a bit defensively.

Chance just gave him a raised eyebrow. "Sure, we'll see about that when I ride with you."

Before Garrett could take offense, Jake jumped in, "hey, I was really good at Chemistry and all forms of math...if you need help just ask."

"I much preferred Gym and History more," Chance added.

"I never took French. It's a good thing to learn another language. History wasn't so bad but I was easily bored by it. Having any troubles in Geometry?" Jake asked, casually.

Garrett snorted. "I'm doing fine so far and don't feel the need for a genius to give me a paw."

Jake raised his paws defensively and laughed, "hey, it was just an offer, don't get your tail bent about it."

"Oh bite me, Clawson!" Garrett flipped him off, but was laughing as he did it. The two adults laughed with him.

"I have a different question to ask you. Are you able to keep up with your homework? You said you worked for four hours after school so that means, the evenings were given to school work, correct?" Jake asked.

Garrett sighed. "Yeah, that's about it alright and yes, I am keeping up though sometimes I am pretty tired when I go to school the next day," he admitted, reluctantly.

"That's what I thought. Well, I won't stop you from working the garage as that is your livelihood but we won't allow you to work longer than four hours. Anything over that we'll handle and ..." Jake raised a paw to halt an automatic objection from Garrett, "...we'll give you part of our earnings for that overtime. After all, it is your garage and you technically own it so we're your employees."

Garrett blinked in shock. "Wha...but you're the adults...I just thought you would take over."

Jake and Chance shook their heads. "You've been working here for three years already. You know the customers and have the way it should be run down pat. We have no intention of taking that hard work away from you but we are here to advise and support you," Chance said, solemnly.

It was more than he dreamed and he almost thought he was dreaming all this. A huge smile filled his face. "Wow, thanks, I appreciate that. I think we're going to be great friends."

"Oh, I have no doubt of that," Jake smiled back.

They talked for a couple of hours and Garrett learned even more about the two males. Chance not only knew how to fly a jet but knew everything inside and out of one so was able to repair it as well though he would have no opportunity to do that here, Garrett thought. He also learned, Jake had actually graduated college when he was only thirteen. That had blown him away. He'd known the guy was smart but this meant he was a certifiable genius. The things this guy could do with what was laying around the yard, boggled his mind.

Maybe they could make extra money repairing things and selling them. Wouldn't hurt to ask the guys if they wanted to do that. Wow, what a team we'll make, he thought as he drifted off to sleep that night..


	4. Chapter 4: School againblah!

**ANOTHER SIDE****  
**  
Chapter 4: School again...blah!

Monday arrived a bit gray and cloudy which fit Garrett's mood. After such an incredible last three days, going to school was one great blah!

When he came down with his backpack over his shoulder, he paused to dump it on the couch then headed to the kitchen but he could already smell breakfast cooking. Surprised he stepped through the archway and found Jake fixing the meal.

"Hi, thought I'd give you a good power breakfast to start the morning right. Didn't know if you liked a heavy breakfast so went with light one instead, just bacon, toast, and cereal."

"Wow, thanks. And, yeah, I don't like to heavy a meal before school so this is great. Seems funny and nice to have someone else get it ready, lets me watch a bit more TV before leaving," Garrett told the slim tom as he sat down at the table.

"What time do you leave, by the way?"

"Oh, the bus gets here around eight."

"You're great with your time management then since you have an hour to relax," Jake complimented him, placing the plate of bacon on the table and joining the teen.

"Thanks."

They ate companionably and were just finishing when Chance strolled in, yawning as usual.

"Good morning all. Hey, Garrett, want an after school pick up?" He asked as he sat down and began to gather his breakfast in front of him.

"Sure, that would be great, if its not too much trouble. I get out at three but don't make this a habit. You do have a garage to run you know," Garrett said, pulling Chance's chain.

Chance ruffled the kitten's hair as punishment, Garrett growled and straighten it, while the tabby laughed. "It's no trouble and no, I won't do it unless you ask, deal?"

"Yeah, deal. I'm going to watch some TV now," the teen said, putting his dishes in the sink then going to the living room.

Chance and Jake finished their meal and did the dishes before going out to the living area where Garrett was just turning off the TV. Out the window, the guys saw a big yellow school bus stop at the gate.

"Have a good day!" Chance shouted at Garrett's backside as it hurried down the stairs.

"Have a great first day!" Garrett shouted back then he was gone through the shop, across the yard and climbing aboard the bus.

Jake turned away from the window to see Chance about to go downstairs to the garage. "Uh, Chance hold up a minute."

Chance stopped and turned, giving his friend a puzzled look.

"I've got something I want to feel you out about. Let's have a seat on the couch." Jake went to the couch and waited for Chance to sit beside him.

"What's up?"

"Ever since I saw this set up and the cool hidden hangar underneath us, I've gotten this really great idea how to get back at Feral and get us back in the air again."

"Huh? What do you mean get in the air again and do what?"

"Take care of the criminals the enforcers can't handle. Protect the city the way Feral isn't able to from the big guys that are destroying it," Jake said passionately.

"You're joking? Be vigilantes...we can't do that. We swore to serve and protect not break the laws which being a vigilante would be," Chance said, shaking his head. He was shocked Jake even suggested such a thing.

Jake was stunned by Chance's outright dismissal of his idea. "You're kidding me right? What part of 'we got screwed' aren't you getting? You know the ins and outs of a fighter jet better then anyone and I can build and invent any weapon we'd need from all this salvage. Come on, Chance you can't tell me you wouldn't jump at the chance to protect the city? You saw for yourself that the big criminals are running rings around the enforcers. If we do this right, we can take them out finally before anymore innocents are harmed," he argued persuasively.

Chance sighed and squeezed his eyes shut. "I still don't like it, Jake but let me think about it. If we can really build a jet and have more superior weaponry, then I might be up for it," he said cautiously.

Jake nodded, sighing mentally. It felt strange for his normally 'leap before he looked' partner to suddenly develop a sense of caution. It was actually a good thing but the timing was all wrong as far as the slim tom was concerned. Oh well, he would just have to prove to the tabby they could do this but it would take months of work before they were ready.

Leaving the subject there for now, the pair went down into the garage and opened it up for business. It wasn't long before they got some calls for towing and went out to pick them up. One step toward building their own client base.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

While his new co-workers began their day, Garrett was walking across the quad and into the school. Gripping the strap of his backpack, he stared down the long hallway filled with teens talking loudly, throwing a football around, females gossiping in groups near the lockers...a typical day at high school.

Sighing he threaded his way through the crowds that were unwilling to go to their classrooms until the very last minute and entered his first period room.

French was the start of his day and one of his favorites. He especially liked his teacher, Ms. Tirana. She was already hard at work at her desk and looked up when he entered giving him a warm smile.

He was always early and she appreciated how much he enjoyed being in her class. "Good morning, Garrett."

"Good morning, Ms. Tirana, have a nice weekend?" he asked as he went to his desk at the back of the room situated near a window. He pulled out his work from his backpack, put it on his desk, then slung the pack on the back of his seat before sitting down.

"I did indeed. Was it busy at the yard?" She asked, politely. She was slim built and petite, handsome rather than pretty, and had a short, brown colored fur. Light brown hair fell to just below her shoulders and on her face was a pair of tortishell glasses. Today she wore a light blue blouse covered by a dark blue jacket and slacks to match, with black pumps on her feet.

"Two new workers have come to work in the yard and I really like them both. They are nice guys and they took me to the Megakat Amusement Park on Sunday so you could say I had a great weekend," he said grinning from ear to ear.

"Oh, new workers, eh? They live with you?" She wasn't aware that Garrett lived alone, just assumed his guardian was there as well.

"Yeah, they are the two ex-enforcers who got into trouble recently and are required to work off their punishment at the yard."

"Oh my, so they are the pair in the news I heard about?" she asked concerned. He nodded. "I wouldn't see how that would be safe for you to have them around. Disobeying an order is a serious offense."

"They weren't guilty," Garrett stoutly defended the pair. "They already had the tag locked in on their control board and I checked their jet when it was brought in. It clearly shows they were hit by another jet that caused the accident. It wasn't right they were put out for that."

"Oh...I did hear there were some questions as to what really went on in the cockpit..." she said thoughtfully.

She knew just how smart Garrett was and didn't disbelieve him when he said he'd checked the damage and understood what he was seeing. The teachers that taught him were always sharing news about just how intelligent the teen was and how sorry they were he wasn't in some advanced school rather than here. They clearly could see just how bored he was. It wasn't a good thing to allow a genius vegetate...that could lead to some bad behavior but they didn't know what to do about it.

Her attention returned to the teen and she sighed. "I believe you, Garrett. I swear, it's always about glory these days instead of saving people's lives and I think Commander Feral should be ashamed of himself. Anyway, I'm glad Furlong and Clawson have taken a liking to you and gave you such a good time yesterday. I relieves my mind to know they are such good toms but its sad such a bad thing happened to them." She shook her head.

"Yeah, I know. I like them and am glad they are around," he grinned. At that moment, the bell rang for class to begin.

"Have a good day, Garrett," she said, smiling warmly before standing to greet her students.

He ignored the rowdy students pouring in and taking their seats. He opened his notebook and prepared to listen.

History was next and bored him to tears. His classmates struggled with the day's lesson but he had finished within fifteen minutes and spent the rest of the time reading the next few lessons. English was just as tedious and it was hard for him to even show an interest.

Gym class was next and he sighed with relief. He like the class as it afforded him time to burn off his frustrations at being a loner and bored with his classes. The physical exertion made him feel good too.

By lunch, he wasn't very hungry, so settled for a salad and a bottle of sprite. He took it to a private corner and began drawing. He loved drawing just about anything and even developed some characters of his own, making little comics with them.

Geometry was next and he breezed through that, already several lessons ahead of the class. The teacher has asked him to tutor some of the slower students but he bowed out, too shy to interact with others well.

Finally, it was his last class of the day. The lessons they had to sit through were screamingly easy and boring. He was majorly frustrated because he had already been driving for a couple of years, though only around the yard and never on the street. They hadn't graduated to actually driving yet and Garrett chafed at the delay.

When the bell rung for the end of the day, he was relieved to get out of there. Honestly, except for French and Gym, he hated attending school. Without any friends, it was just a boring and tedious place to spend ones day. He worked alright with project partners but had nothing to do with them outside the classroom. Surprisingly, it really didn't bother him that he hadn't made friends except for adult ones. He just didn't have any patience for all the high school drama of his peers and they thought him too much of a geek to bother knowing so he remained an outsider.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

It was two-forty when Chance got into the tow truck and drove to the high school. He wanted to get their early enough to get a parking spot.

Even this early, he had to wend his way through all the parents and busses waiting for their kittens to leave the school. He finally reached the spot where he and Garrett agreed they'd meet and parked.

He heard the bell ring and in minutes, kittens came pouring out of the school like a wound hemorrhaging. As he watched the students pour out, he felt a bit nostalgic about his days in high school. Unlike Garrett, he had a great time and made lots of friends and was in sports.

His eyes roved restlessly over the sea of heads until he finally spotted Garrett coming across the grounds toward him. Moments later, the kitten climbed into the seat and put on his seatbelt.

"How was your day?" Chance asked, pulling out of the school parking area and heading back to the yard.

Garrett shrugged. "Same as usual."

Chance couldn't help but grin. "You mean boring?"

A small smile tugged at Garrett's lips. "Yeah, it is."

"I barely kept my grades up but you're probably more like Jake, breeze through and be bored," Chance chuckled at the memory of what Jake had described of his schooling. Bet you don't have any homework either?"

"Nope, always get it done in class then just sit and vegetate," Garrett quipped, pleased to talk to someone who actually understood. Not because it happened to him but because he of his partner.

"So how was your first day in the garage?"

"Well it was boring at first but then we got some tows. And there was one special tow I got of a very pretty she-kat."

"Really, what makes her so special."

"She is the deputy mayor and a real knockout."

Garrett's ears flicked up with interest. "Really?"

"Oh yeah, seems her water pump had gone out on her. Gotta tell ya, if I thought she looked hot on TV, in person she's smokin'...damn!"

Garrett couldn't help but chuckle.

"High point of my day," Chance asserted, smirking.

"I bet."

They made it back to the salvage yard and Garrett was the first to step out of the truck. He and Chance entered the garage where Jake was bent over working on a sedan. The slim tom heard them and looked up.

"Hey there, how was school?" He asked, placing his wrench on the bench behind him.

"It was fine." Garrett said blandly, moving past Jake and heading upstairs to put his backpack away and change clothes.

Jake glanced over at Chance, a question in his eyes.

"Think he's a lot like you were...bored with school and alone...at least I didn't see anyone who even gave him a second look," Chance told him.

"Hmm, perhaps I should speak with him..." Jake said thoughtfully. Chance just shrugged and went into the break area to get something to drink.

Minutes later, Garrett came back down and set to work. There were about five cars there which pleased him because it meant money.

They worked companionably until quitting time, finishing the vehicles in time for people to pick them up. Garrett got to see Ms. Briggs and had to admit Chance was right, she was really fine to look at close up and was truly a nice person. He was thrilled when she said she would use them from now on for her car.

When they closed the garage, Garrett announced, "I'm making chicken for dinner, how's that sound?"

"Wow, sounds delicious. We'll clean up here and do the lock up while you go fix the chow, okay?" Chance asked.

"Perfect, see you in a bit," the teen said, smiling then went upstairs to clean up.

The two adults came up later and took showers. Jake was the first to appear in the kitchen. Garrett was wearing a set of headphones and his head was bobbing to something he was listening to.

That made Jake smile but he needed to talk to him so tapped the teen on the shoulder.

"Hmm, oh, hi...dinner is almost ready," Garrett said, cheerily.

"Great, want me to set the table?"

"That would be good."

Jake set about doing his task. "Garrett?"

"Hmm?"

"I wanted to speak to you about school and how it truly is for you. If you're anything like I was, you're terribly bored...am I right?"

Garrett frowned but nodded.

"Well, I found the best way to beat that was to tutor students and join clubs that interested me. I also took advanced placement classes that allowed me to accelerate ahead of my peers to graduate early. I'm betting you already have sufficient points to do this, hmm?"

"Yeah, I do but I never thought about trying to get out of there early and I'm far too shy to tutor."

Jake frowned. "You don't have any friends?"

Garrett ducked his head and returned his attention to the food he was making, the conversation was uncomfortable for him. "No, I just can't talk to teens...adults no problem...but teens ... their conversations are just so much drama and annoying for me to listen to much less join in.

Jake hid a smile. "Yeah, I know exactly what you mean but you know, I finally did make some amazing friends that helped me see that you just because you're a genius, you don't have to lonely. Friends help you see outside yourself. Good ones are there when you need a shoulder or to have fun with. That's why I suggested you join some clubs that interest you. It's the best way to make friends than in a social setting. Give it a try at least. It's not perfect by any means as I still had difficulty fitting in until I joined the enforcers."

Garrett grew thoughtful. "There were a few clubs that I thought were interesting and they have sign ups going on right now, looking for members. I guess I could check them out."

Jake grinned, "That's the spirit!"

The teen could only smile at Jake's honest enthusiasm. "Dinner's ready, want to call in Chance?"

"Sure, smells great." Jake went out to the living room where Chance stayed to allow Jake some time with Garrett. "Dinner!"

"Great, my stomach was growling," Chance said getting up and walking toward his partner. In a low voice, he asked, "every thing okay?"

"I think so, we'll have to wait and see," Jake responded. Chance nodded and went on into the kitchen.

Garrett served up the food, smiled and blushed at the compliments from the guys, then dug into his food. I really like these guys. They are almost like having my parents back, he thought warmly.


	5. Chapter 5: Garrett's first friend

**ANOTHER SIDE**

Chapter 5: Garrett's first friend.

When Tuesday arrived, the cloudy weather of yesterday gave way to a sunny seventy-nine degrees, with a good breeze now and then.

Garrett was walking down the hallway holding a pamphlet that listed all the clubs looking for new members. He had asked Chance to pick him up at 4:15 instead so he could check one or two of the clubs out after school.

Many of the clubs listed were just not of interest to him like the: Chess, Debate Team, Choir, and Gaming ones but there was one that caught his eye...an Art Club...perfect for a person who liked to draw. It offered other forms of art besides drawing like: painting, sculpting, and photography.

The club was meeting in a second floor classroom, Rm 214. He walked along the corridor counting off the rooms. '210...211...212...213...aha...214! Here we are!' He put his paw on the door handle, took a deep breath and murmured, "...here goes nothing..." then opened it and stepped inside.

Closing the door behind him, he stayed near it and stared around. There were quite a few kits already here. He counted at least eight, four toms and four she-kats.

He began to move closer to see what they were all doing when...

"HI THERE!"

Garrett jumped nearly out of his fur when that loud voice spoke from behind him. Turning around quickly, he stared rather wide-eyed at the she-kat standing there. She was a bit shorter than he was and had a big, cheery smile on her face. She hadn't been with the others so he had missed her being in the room.

He stared at her more intently and noted she had gray fur, black hair that reached her shoulder blades and had a few sky blue hair clips on the left side decorating it, was wearing a blue shirt and dark blue jeans and had sky blue converse tennis shoes on her feet. Her best feature, though, was her stunning blue eyes...the brightest he'd ever seen.

He realized he'd been staring at her like a loon. 'What the hell do I say now?' he wondered, bewildered...she kind of creeped him out and she was right up in his personal space besides.

She solved his dilemma by speaking again. "Hey! I know you! You're that kit who always sits in the far back of my English class!" she chirped brightly, smiling even broader than he thought possible.

"Oh, yea…um…I'm Garrett," he muttered, rather weakly, ducking his head shyly and extending his paw.

She giggled and shook it really quick before releasing. He winced mentally and just barely kept from rubbing his sore paw like he wanted to so she wouldn't be upset...wow...did she have a strong grip.

"I'm Rebecca... Rei for short. Nice to meet you. So...you're the smart kit I heard so much about."

He blushed at her comment then raised an eyebrow, "I wasn't aware I was so famous..." he said rubbing his neck. She giggled again. What the heck was with all the giggling, he wondered. You'd think I was being hilarious or something.

"Well sort of...many kits think you're really smart and evidence speaks for itself as you don't ask many questions in class and yet you're finished before any of us get even one page done then there's the fact you can whiz through a test and finish while we're still on question one. I think that says you're a genius alright," she gushed in rapid fire fashion.

At this rate, his face was going to be permanently red from all the blushing. "I'm not that smart," he denied much like Jake had done when Garrett had complimented him on his shooting skills.

"Yeah, right..." she said, disbelief in her voice then she changed the subject. "Anyway...were you thinking of joining our club?"

He nodded his head, nervously looking past her. "Yeah, sure...I guess...nothing else seemed as interesting."

She gave a toothy grin. "Great, what type of art do you do?"

"Drawing, pencil sketching, that sort of thing."

"Cool! What do you like to draw mostly..." she asked, motioning him to follow her to a couple of empty desks and taking one for herself.

Garrett sat in the chair opposite her and dropped his backpack on the floor. "I draw whatever strikes my fancy ..." he said, pulling a green sketchbook from his pack, two corners of it was bent by him shoving books in and out of his pack all the time.

He held it out to her and she took it, beginning to flip through the pages, her eyes going wide as saucers as she went further and further into the book.

"Oh my god…this is truly amazing!" She could see he liked to draw figures in various poses and places: a Kat waiting for a train, another laying on the grass...all done in great detail. The last sketch she thought was the best of the bunch. It was of a tom who looked very similar to Garrett leaning against a rail looking over a field of junk and behind him was the Megakat City skyline in breathtaking detail.

Garrett felt warm inside hearing her react with many oohhs and aahhs about his work, obviously liking it a lot.

"Wow, these are incredible. How long have you been drawing?" she asked, continuing to thumb through the rather extensive work.

"Oh, I've been drawing since I was very young...I guess I did my first doodle when I was around four years old..." he admitted quietly.

She was shaking her head and smiling warmly when she closed the book and handed it back to him. "I think you'll be a great addition to our club. With your talent, we can stomp the other art clubs into the ground!" She raised her fist with an evil grin on her face.

Garrett's eyes widened in shock at her statement and attitude. "Uh...what other art clubs?"

She gave him a surprised look. "All the clubs compete in contests with clubs from other schools. Why shouldn't we compete just like the jocks do?" she asked.

"Oh, yeah, guess that makes sense."

She gave him another brilliant smile then waved around the room. "We do a variety of things besides our special talents, like singing and using instruments...we consider them as much a part of art as photography and drawing and such."

"Really?...Uhm I don't sing and don't know how to play any instruments," he said, frowning and thinking this might not be the right place for him.

"No one said you had to. Everyone tries a bit of everything here if they want to but no ones going to force you. We all have our special gifts but we like to share those gifts with each other...to broaden our horizons as it were and it makes us more cohesive as a group," she reassured him.

"Oh...that sounds interesting and makes sense," he agreed after a moments thought, but still wasn't certain he wanted a part of it.

She frowned at his lack of enthusiasm, "Aw, come on, everyone should try at least one thing different in their life. I'm sure if you try to make the attempt you might end up liking it," she insisted leaning closer to him, an earnest look in her eyes.

He had begun to twist his fingers nervously and twiddling his thumbs, as her insistence made him rather uncomfortable. "I don't know…"

She gave him pleading kitten eyes and wheedled, "Pleeeeaaaase? Just pick something and give it a try?"

He felt cornered. He'd not even decided to join and here this female was pressing him to do things he'd never considered attempting much less think about doing in the first place but despite her rather intense manner and very forward personality, he found he was kinda liked her a bit if only because she was so passionate about art. Still, he wasn't so sure he wanted to join at all.

"Uh, well...I haven't really said I'd join yet..." he waffled, staring down at his feet, not willing to meet those pleading eyes.

She pouted and pressed him again. "What are you afraid of...you can't stay in a rut like that ... there's no growth or moving further ahead in your art if you don't expand your mind set and try something else outside your comfort zone. I can tell you're shy besides being really smart. Join us! It will make you friends and help you be less reserved," she coaxed, realizing she was coming on too strong for someone this shy and, on a purely selfish level, the way he drew, she really wanted him in their group...they would kill the competition.

The new kit just stood there eyeing the door and nervously twisting his fingers...time to do something else. "Hey, how about I introduce you to the gang? Come on." Here she wouldn't allow him to back out.

Pulling him from his seat, she tugged him by the arm from his seat and kept her paw on his as she sort of dragged him to the group sitting at one end of the room. Her fellow club members halted their conversations and work to eye the new kit.

It made Garrett want to squirm away since he hated being stared at but Rei's grip was like iron.

"Everyone, I'd like to introduce Garrett. He's thinking of joining our group. I've seen his sketchbook and it's the bomb. How about you all introduce yourselves and tell him what your particular talent is?"

In response, a pair of toms stood up and approached Garrett. The two were identical in appearance, both had blonde fur and a little tuft of red hair on the tops of their heads. They even said their names in sync which sounded weird to him but he knew this was just what identical twins did. Their names were Daniel and John.

"I like to play violin and do a little drawing with charcoal," Daniel chirped (or was he John?)

"I like to sing!" John said in the same chirpy voice (uh, was he Daniel? Garrett couldn't tell.)

The next person spoke from his seat and said his name was Connor. His feet was up on a desk, crossed at the ankles. He acted as if he didn't want to be here and his attire spoke of a rebel. "Yo dude. I play bass guitar and do a little painting," he drawled, carelessly.

"Hi..my names Taylor..." a dreamy voice said. Garrett stared at a tom with black fur, ice blue eyes and wearing a plain white tee with black stars on it and torn up looking black jeans and pink (what's with that?) canvas shoes. The dreamy smile on the tom's face sort of creeped Garrett out. "I like sculpting and playing piano. Pleased to meet you," he said holding a paw out. Garrett shook it firmly and was surprised to receive a firm one back.

Two of the females were eyeing him with interest, sort of like beef on the hoof, which he never liked. The first one came close and smiled rather coyly at him. She had blond hair and creamy fur with amber eyes. "Hi, handsome...my name is Kelly and I like to play drums."

"Uhm nice to meet you," he said quickly, not meeting her eyes.

The other female was also creamy furred and blond haired but had brown eyes and wasn't quite as forward as Molly. "Hello, Garrett. My names Molly and I like playing the guitar. I hope you'll join us."

He nodded his head. She was rather nice. The last of the group to be introduced seemed to be shy like himself. She was rather plain of face, had dark brown fur with black hair and when she looked up, had golden eyes. She gave him a brief wave to acknowledge him then turned her attention back to the sketchbook she was drawing in. Apparently a drawer like himself who also played the flute according to the small case sitting near her foot which said Lily's Flute in bright letters on it.

Of all of them, he kinda like her the best if only because she wasn't invading his personal space like the other females were.

"And that's everyone in our happy little group. I like to draw and sing and I'm the leader, if you hadn't guess that yet," Rei said in her bubbly voice. "Which means I make the rules, plan the outings we go on, find the contests we try out in, and set up the meets with other schools to compete with. So, why don't you tell us about yourself?"

He froze. He'd rather be boiled in oil than speak before a group even one as small as this one. It was his one failing when presenting reports before his classes.

"Easy, just take a deep breath then speak, no ones going to press you or laugh at you, promise. Just give us your name, what you like to do, and where you live," Rei encouraged, in a surprisingly quieter voice.

Garrett blinked in surprise at that good piece of advice and did as she asked...took a deep breath while staring out the window then letting it out slowly before turning his attention back to the group waiting expectantly.

"My name is Garrett Gibson, I…uh…live and work at the city's salvage yard and draw during my free time. I also love to work on all things mechanical," he nearly mumbled his response, not looking anyone in the eye.

Rebecca perked her ears up with interest. "You live at the Megakat City Salvage Yard, do you work in that little auto shop there call Megakat Auto Repair and Towing?"

"Yes." Surprised she knew anything about it.

"My dad uses your shop...says it's the best in town," she clarified, grinning with delight.

"Oh, thanks...glad he likes my work," Garrett said, surprised and pleased by the compliment.

Suddenly Daniel spoke up, arms crossed rather belligerently over his chest. "You live in a dump?" His voice dripped disdain and disbelief.

Startled by the sudden mean comment, Garrett's temper flashed and he glared at Daniel as he spat, "It's not the city refuse, its where all the military hardware damaged in battles are stored as parts, hence the name SALVAGE. So, no, it's not the dump and I'd appreciate it if you'd not call it that."

Daniel stared back then relaxed his stance and nodded. "I stand corrected."

That mollified Garrett somewhat and he calmed down.

"So you said you work and live there too? How did that come about?" John asked, a bit more polite than his twin.

"My father worked there a long time ago and when I was orphaned, I was allowed to go back there with a guardian. Working provides me some income of my own and allows me to work on cars which I enjoy," he said, a bit of pride in his voice. He didn't tell them his guardian didn't live with him, they didn't need to know that.

Everyone, even Lily eyed him in shocked dismay at that admission. Rei was stunned.

"Oh, I'm so sorry. That must be really rough not having any parents or grandparents," she finally managed to say.

"It's not so bad. My guardian is a good guy and cares for me as do a few others. I do okay," he said rather embarrassed about their response.

After an uncomfortable silence fell for a moment, then Connor spoke up. "Hey, its cool that you know how to repair cars...you make good money at it?"

Surprised, Garrett said without thinking, "it's okay, enough to get the things I want and need."

"Wow! You're the only one among us who has a real paying job," Rei gushed. "Well, let me take you to my space. We have things to talk about." With that, she tugged him over to a desk filled with folders, papers, a sketchpad, music sheets and a computer with printer nearby.

"So, can I convince you to join us. I promise you won't regret it. And don't let Danny get to you...he thinks he has to be the tough guy but he really a sweetheart. We always have fun here and do activities for about two hours or simply hangout and talk or help with each others homework if needed," she explained.

"I think I'd like too but I'm not sure I can give you the time as I work at the garage after school. I could probably come only a couple times a week if there isn't much work waiting for me," he said hesitantly.

"Oh...yeah...that's right, you're not as free as we are," she said a bit disheartened then she brightened. "Oh, well that's okay. Whenever you can come will be good enough. Will you join us?"

He stared at her hopeful face then looked over at the motley group of odd individuals and thought hard about whether he wanted to be a part of it. In his mind drifted Jake's voice that said, give it a try. He sighed. Okay, so he'll give it a try.

"Alright, I'll see how it goes. What do I have to do to join?"

Rei grinned light a beacon as she went to the computer and sat down. She opened up a word document that said application form and pressed print. Seconds later the printer spat out the form.

"Just fill this out. I'll make sure you get a calendar that lists our events and when we meet. I have a busy schedule so sometimes I haven't time to open the club so be sure to check the schedule before trying to come. We do hold it in this room all the time though."

He nodded at her and filled in the form quickly then handed it back to her.

"Great. Thanks for joining us and welcome. Oh, let me give you my cell number so you can call and let me know when you can't make it. Please don't give it out to anyone else." She handed him a small computer generated business card that had an interesting art logo and her name, phone, and e-mail on it.

"Thanks," he said quietly, pocketing the card in his jeans. Glancing up at the clock, he realized it was time for Chance to pick him up.

"Well, thanks Rei. I've gotta go now, my ride is waiting for me."

"Oh sure, sorry you can't stay but hope to see you at the next meeting and see you in class tomorrow."

"I'll try to make it and yeah, see you tomorrow." She nodded then suddenly gave him a tight hug before stepping back. That surprised him a lot and felt rather nice.

"Oh, be sure to bring your sketchbook if you make it to the club and I'll bring an easel and canvas so you can draw something for us," she said brightly.

He gave her a look of surprised consternation but didn't agree or disagree as he quickly waved goodbye, collected his backpack then slipped out the door.

"She's a bit weird but nice," he muttered to himself as he hurried out of the building. He spotted Chance waiting for him at the curb out front. There were only a few cars about, showing that some teachers were still around. He made for the sedan and climbed in.

Chance smoothly pulled away and began the drive back to the yard. "How it go? Find a club you liked?"

"Yeah, an Art Club with a really eccentric leader," Garrett told him, staring out the window at the passing scenery.

"An Art Club? Didn't know you were interested in that."

"Oh, right, I guess I never mentioned I like to draw in my spare time. I make up my own characters and draw them in many scenes, do some comics, stuff like that."

"That's cool. You should show Jake and I some of it. I'd loved to see it."

"Well maybe I will after dinner...I am kinda busy before that you know," Garrett said, smirking.  
"By the way, how much work is there?"

"Oh, we're not swamped at all...just a couple of rigs needing simple things done, won't take long at all so you might get a break tonight. It's entirely possible, Jake will be done before we get there."

"Okay, that sounds good especially as it is so late already."

"So what does this art club do...just draw?"

"Actually, it seems they do quite a lot of things: drawing, of course, painting, sculpture, photography, even singing and playing instruments. The leader, Rei, wants me to give one of those last ones a try though I'm not really into that." He crossed his arms across his chest.

"Sounds like you don't like her that well?"

"Oh no, she's just a bit odd and forceful which puts me off a little. But she's friendly and smiles a lot."

"Aahh...so she gets on your nerves a bit, eh?"

"A little and apparently, she's also in my English class. When she learned I worked at the garage she told me her dad thinks were the greatest. That made my day."

"Really, well that's good to know." Chance chuckled and stopped at a red light. "I'm glad you are willing to do this. I hope it means you'll make friends there. Sounds like this Rei has already gotten under your fur. Jake will certainly be glad to hear that." The light turned green and he drove on.

"Right now, I don't know if she's considered a friend or more of a nuisance..." Garrett snorted.

"I'm sure she's just being friendly...it is only the first time you actually met...just give her a chance."

"I'll try, I did promise," he grumbled.

Oh, don't be like that," Chance chuckled, ruffling the kit's hair while keeping one paw on the wheel.

Garrett growled, annoyed as he straightened his hair and huffed. "I can be irritable if I want to be."

Chance just snorted then turned off and entered the yard. They got out and walked into the garage. As Chance had suspected, Jake had finished up the work and was presently cleaning up. He looked up when he heard them enter.

"Hey Kiddo, How was school? Find any clubs?" The slim tom asked, smiling warmly.

Garrett sighed mentally but repeated much of what he'd said to Chance in the car.

"Art Club really, wow that's great. So you like to draw...gonna show us some of your work?" Jake asked, very interested.

"Yeah, after dinner."

"What did you think of the members?"

Garrett just shrugged and grimaced rather than answer.

Chance laughed and filled his partner in on what Garrett refused to say. "It appears this clubs leader is a bit of a weirdo though very friendly. Garrett doesn't know what to make of her."

The kit gave him a glare.

"Does he now?" Jake said, giving the teen a look most parents do when they think the kit is hiding something.

What's the big deal? You told me to join a club and that's what I did," Garrett groused a bit at being interrogated like this. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked away from Jake.

"The point of joining a club was for you to have fun and make friends that's the big deal."

The teen frowned. "I'm just not use to interacting with kits my age."

"I know this and told you its something we share but you really need to do this just as I did." Jake placed gentle paw on the kit's shoulder. "Look it's not that hard, you just need to be a little more enthusiastic, I'm sure you'll warm up to them." He smiled at him and gave him a brief hug before letting him go.

Garrett offered the slim tom a lop sided smile and sighed, "I said I would try and I will, I promise."

"And that's all I'm asking," Jake patted the teen on the shoulder then said, "remember, don't be afraid to walk up and talk to someone, okay?"

Garrett nodded and headed upstairs to drop his backpack and changing into his overalls in case anymore cars arrived before they close in an hour.

"You really know how to talk to him, buddy," Chance said when Garrett was out of hearing range, smiling at his best friend.

"I try. He reminds me a lot about how I was in college. I was that same nerdy kit who hardly talked to anyone till the enforcer and meeting you," Jake smiled at the memory.

"Yeah, and it took me awhile to drag you out of your shell too, buddy" the tabby chuckled, remembering the past as well.

"And I will never forget it." Jake smiled warmly at his long time partner and friend.

**Authors note***

**When your beta said you did something wrong listion them and learn from your mistakes, it'll make you a better writer**

**Thank you ulyferal ^^**


	6. Chapter 6: First club meeting

ANOTHER SIDE

Chapter 6: First club meeting & A Surprise Find

Garrett rummaged through his closet, pulling out a particular T-Shirt and laying it on the bed with the rest of his planned outfit of the day. He nearly laughed at what he chose for himself.

'Wait til they see me today,' he smirked then quickly dressed and went downstairs to prepare breakfast.

Jake was already up and getting ready for the morning. Stepping out of the shower then standing under the dryer, he finished up by studying his profile in the full length mirror. He admired his still well toned body despite getting older and no longer an enforcer. Smiling at his image one last time, he realized Garrett and he did look very similar in appearance. Except for their eye and hair color and him being a tad shorter in height ...they could almost pass for twins. The thought amused him, keeping a smile on his face as he got dressed and went to the kitchen.

Smelling bacon cooking, Jake realized Garrett had beat him to the kitchen and had breakfast already going. He shook his head in amusement as he stepped into the kitchen and got his first look at Garrett standing at the stove. He halted and gaped when he saw what the kit was wearing.

Garrett heard someone come in and knowing it was Jake, said good morning without looking around so he missed the adult's shocked expression.

"Morning Jake." He tossed the last of the bacon onto a plate and went to retrieve his toast. Meal complete, he sat down and began eating only then did he realize Jake hadn't answered him nor said a word. Frowning he look over toward the door.

There stood Jake gaping at him.

"What?"

Shaking off his shock, Jake came over to the table and asked, "uh...what's with the outfit?"

Garrett stared down at himself. The white tee had a white and black checkered stripe that ran over each shoulder and down the left and right side of his chest and back. Spread across his chest were the graffitied words SK8TER. Finishing his outfit were a pair of dark grey pants with the same checkerboard stripe running down both side seams with a pair of dark gray tennis shoes with red laces. On his right wrist he wore a watchband with the same checkerboard pattern and on the same hand he wore two cloth rings, one black and one white on his index and middle finger.

Looking back up and grinning at Jake, he said, grinning, "Oh, it's Wednesday and I always wear checkered attire on Wednesday's." Smirking, he returned his attention to his breakfast, taking a bite out of his toast and a sip of milk with a little coffee in it.

"Oh." Jake at first couldn't find any other words to say as he scratched the back of his neck then asked, "Why?"

Garrett smiled at the memory that started this habit of his and said, "it's a funny story...you see, when I was ten, my mom wore a checkered wristband and checkered converse tennis' one Wednesday. I had just happened to wear a checkered jacket I once had and these two rings that day as well. When my mother saw me, she laughed and said, "well aren't we the pair this morning. I have an idea...why don't we make Wednesdays our checkered attired day, how does that sound?' I thought it was a cool idea and until her death, that's what we did, every Wednesday without fail." He took a bite out of his third slice of bacon, the memory making him feel warm inside.

Jake couldn't help but smile at the funny tradition Garrett and his mom had started. It was things like that which helped people survive the loss of a loved one and he was glad Garret had such a wonderful memory to keep his spirits up.

"She sounded like a wonderful person. Wish I could have met her," he said, warmly, getting his own breakfast.

"Yeah, she was. We were into anime big time and would sometimes dress up like our favorite characters..." he chuckled at the memory, "...she acted like such a teenager." He remembered that he was more inclined to act like his father but his mother never failed to draw him into her funny antics keeping him from being too serious. He missed that.

"It's nice to have such good memories of the ones we love. Is that the wristband she wore?" Jake asked, serving up two slices of toast and a few bacon strips onto a plate.

"Yeah, it is. The band broke about a year ago so I had it repaired, kinda why it looks so new instead of old and dirty."

"Ah." Jake nodded his understanding as he took his plate and coffee mug to the table and sat down, beginning to eat. "So, are you going to the art club today?"

Garrett paused a moment from eating and scrounged up his face in thought. "Uhm...well, I don't know...maybe...it depends on how busy the garage is when school ends. If there isn't much work, I might stay." He shrugged. Secretly, he hoped the were swamped. Though the club seemed cool and all, he was still not that keen on being around such odd people. looked up from his plate at the ceiling thinking." He finished eating his last piece of bacon and sipped his drink.

"Do you have a cell phone?" Jake asked, taking a sip of coffee.

Garrett shook his head. "With no friends or family, except for Matthew, I saw no need to own one. Besides, they're expensive and I didn't have that much free cash to bother. When Matthew wanted to reach me, he would just call the house phone." He stood up and carried his plate and cup to the sink, washing them quickly and setting them in the dish drainer.

"Makes sense. However, things have changed so it probably wouldn't hurt to get you one now, I mean besides calling us for a ride, you might need it to call the club or text your friends. Which means Chance and I should have one too so you can reach us anytime you need to." He bit the last piece of his toast sandwich.

"Yeah, you're right. With what we've been bringing in now I can afford to get cells. I happened to have seen an ad on TV last night that Kat-Mobile has a special deal on a family plan right now so I'll look into. Speaking of Chance, shouldn't he be up by now? His breakfast is getting cold."

"I woke him when I stepped into the shower, but knowing him, he probably fell back to sleep. And I don't want you to worry about financing the phones, let Chance and I take care of that," Jake said firmly.

He raised a paw when Garrett began to protest and gave the teen a 'don't argue' look. Sighing Garrett kept his mouth closed. It still felt strange having people looking out for him.

"I'll call and see if we can get our phones by tomorrow. Your bus arrives in about forty-five minutes now, right?" Garrett nodded. "Then I better wake him up again," Jake said, getting up and putting his own plates in the sink.

A voice spoke from the doorway, "don't have too." The blonde tabby entered the kitchen looking like he got up on the wrong side of the bed.

"Morning Chance." Garrett chirped.

Chance just groaned, poured himself some coffee and munched on what was left of the bacon on the counter.

"Someone's grumpy this morning," Garrett snorted, giving Chance a smug look.

Chance returned the look with a small glare. "Yea, Yea go watch your TV," he mocked grumbled, taking a sip of his coffee.

Garrett stuck his tongue out at him, flicked his tail, and said flippantly, "fine, Mr. Grouchy." He walked to the living room and flicked on the TV.

"You are such a bear," Jake snorted, washing his dishes and adding them to Garrett's in the dryer. Chance just shrugged and ate his breakfast.

Soon the bus arrived and Garrett went charging down the stairs, his black and white checkered backpack over his shoulder, shouting a goodbye to his house mates as he headed out.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

The day went fairly well until English class. As he stepped through the door he saw Rebecca sitting toward the back and waving for him to come sit next to her. Sighing, he walked toward her and reluctantly sat down.

"Hey Gar, what's up?" she asked, smiling brightly at him, looking way to perky then he was this time of day.

He was taken aback a bit by the odd nickname she gave him before answering with a bland, "Uh...nothing much." He put his backpack on the back of his chair after he'd removed the required textbooks and placed them on the desk.

She just continued to smile as she studied his odd ensemble. "Wow! Nice outfit," she complimented. "YOU, my friend, have great taste."

He blushed at her compliment; no one had ever said anything about his outfit even though he'd been doing it every Wednesday for years...not even the teachers bothered to comment on it.

"Um…thanks." He said weakly. She smiled at him again and opened her textbook ready to listen to today's lesson.

After English class was over, Garrett was about to head to his locker, when Rebecca grabbed his arm to halt him.

"Hey, what lunch period do you have...first or second?"

"Oh...uhm, first..."

"Fantastic! We have the same lunch!" she said excitedly "Lily, Conner and Molly have the same lunch too...you should sit with us," she suggested, brightly.

Refusal was on the tip of Garrett's tongue when he remembered Jake's admonishment to make friends. Sighing inwardly, he said, "sure...I'd love to."

That made her smile with delight. "Cool We know where you usually sit, so we'll come find you. See ya later," she sang out as she hurried away.

Shaking his head, Garrett picked up his backpack and headed to gym class.

Those it was his favorite class, there was one sour note, he hated the locker room. The air headed, hormonal guys were not ones he wanted to associate with so he usually changed in a private stall rather than be engaged in mindless chatter.

He nervously entered the locker room and carefully stayed near the wall, heading to his favorite stall, when someone bumped into him.

"Whoops! Sorry guy..." a tom began to apologize then stopped when he recognized the male he'd bumped into. Putting on a sly smile he said, "well hello there Garrett."

The teen's mouth gaped when he saw it was Taylor from the club. The black-furred tom was already wearing shorts, a pink wristband, and holding his tee shirt over one arm.

"Oh...Uh…hey… Taylor right?" Garrett said, nervously. He quickly looked away, the tom's smile creeping him out.

Taylor gave a small chuckle and said, "glad you remember me." His broad smile showed a little fang.

'Okaaaaaaay, now he's seriously starting to creep me out,' Garrett thought, smiling tentatively as he took a step back toward the stall he was trying to get to. "Uh, well nice to see we share the same class...uh...gotta chance...excuse me," he stepped around the odd tom and walked quickly into his stall.

Taylor snorted to himself, a paw on his hip as he thought, 'ohh, he's cute and shy...I like that." Pulling his tee shirt on he headed out to the gym.

During class, Garrett made sure he wasn't that close to Taylor and when class ended, he made for the locker room ahead of the odd tom, changed and left before Taylor came looking for him.

It was finally lunch time and he was grateful to just get his lunch and hurry to his usual spot at the back of the lunch room.

As he sat down and prepared to eat, his mind went back to the last class and the moment with Taylor there in the locker room. 'That guy was giving me weird vibes, I wonder if he's..." his thoughts were rudely interrupted by someone plunking down in the seat next to him.

"Hey Garrett!" Rebecca chirped happily.

'Oh that's right, she did say she was joining me,' he thought. "Hi" he said, smiling slightly before turning his attention to the sack lunch he'd brought with him. He pulled out a peanut butter sandwich and a can of milk.

As he began to eat, he studied her outfit. She was wearing an bright orange t-shirt that had some huge white Hawaiian followers on it, a pair of white capri pants and orange sandals on her feet.

Connor, Molly and Lily sat down on the other side of the table from them.

"Yo..." Conner greeted him. He wore a black shirt with an emblem in the center of that looked like a heart with red crack design on it and a crown necklace.

Molly just nodded and smiled at him. She was wearing a plain yellow sundress and black ballet slippers while Lily barely looked at him and wore a sky blue shirt with ocean waves on it and had orange hair clips in her shoulder length hair, a pair of reading glasses perched on her nose.

"So, how was gym?" Molly asked taking out a salad in a plastic container.

Garrett paused and eyed her questioningly. "Um…how did you know I had gym?"

"Taylor texted me after you two got out of gym," she said blithely, stabbing her fork in her salad and taking a bite.

"Oh…it was fine." 'Remember socialize more, add to the conversation,' Jake's voice echoed in his head. It was beginning to feel like the tom was watching him. "Um...we did the obstacle course today and I came in second place," he said a bit proudly.

"My, aren't you athletic." Rebecca commented, biting into her taco.

"Hope Taylor didn't come on to you too much," Conner dropped into the conversation. He was eating fried rice for his lunch.

Garrett nearly choked on his sandwich. As it was he colored in embarrassment.

"Ah crud, he did," Rebecca groaned, shaking her head. She wiped her mouth with a napkin then gave Garrett a light pat on the shoulder. "Hey, don't let him shake you up. He flirts with all the new male members."

Garrett stared at both of them a little wild eyed. 'So he'd been right.' "That's good to know because, frankly, he creeps me out a little," he admitted weakly, covering his discomfort with the subject by sipping his milk.

Rebecca sighed and took a sip of her cola. "I'll have a word with him to lay off you and that you're the shy type."

"Don't forget to tell him I don't swing that way," Garrett blurted hurriedly, feeling his face burn.

"I'll tell him," Rebecca promised, feeling a bit uncomfortable herself now.

"Won't do much good," Conner warned, darkly, looking at him out of the corner of his eye.

That certainly didn't make Garrett feel better and Rebecca noticed.

"Oh don't scare him like that Conner! Gar, don't worry, okay. Just ignore his innuendos and such, he'll give up," she said reassuringly, patting his arm.

Garrett was anything but reassured but didn't want Rebecca to feel bad for someone else's bad behavior so managed a small smile for her. She relaxed and beamed a big smile at him.

"Aww, I've never seen you really smile before. You should do it more often," she said, brightly.

He blushed at that remark and gave a self conscious laugh. As they returned to eating their lunches, he managed to learn a bit more about them. Conner was just as skilled as Garrett at playing guitar. Lily wasn't shy at all just didn't talk much by choice. When she did talk, it was something she cared about and not just idle chatter. So he learned, she had been drawing since she was ten but wasn't in Garrett's league as a drawer but wasn't too bad. He surprised himself by offering to give drawing lessons, if she was interested.

Her face lit up but said nothing because Rebecca chirped up quickly, "OH! If you're willing to give art lessons...sign me up! I would love to draw like you do."

Those that drew nodded their heads eagerly. He blushed at all the attention and told them shyly that if they wanted to come to the salvage yard some evening, he'd give them lessons.

On that happy note, the next class bell rang and they all scattered, saying they'd meet up for their club meeting later.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

With only one car in the garage and Chance doing the work on it, Jake took the opportunity to do something he'd been doing for some weeks now, srounging for jet parts. He hadn't given up his idea to build a jet but hadn't found anything that was in good enough shape yet that could be converted to their use.

Right now he satisfied himself with just finding all the various usable parts that would be needed to get a jet back into shape. His little golf cart was already loaded with odd and ends of electronic stuff and other parts when he spotted something in a pile of aircraft scrap.

He jerked on the brake and hopped out to look more closely. As he pulled a few things out of the way, he nearly had a heart attack at what he'd unearthed. Beyond excited, he jumped aboard his little cart and raced back to the garage.

"Chance!"

The tabby frowned and lifted his head from his work to turn and look at his partner who screeched to a halt at the garage door. 'What's got his tail in a bunch?' He wiped his paws off with a rag and placed it in his pocket.

"Chance, get aboard! You've got to see this!" Jake urged his partner.

Shaking his head, Chance walked around the cart and climbed in and barely got in the seat before Jake was off again, racing back across the yard. The tabby was forced to grab onto the frame of the cart to keep from being tossed off.

"Jake, what the heck is the rush?"

Jake's face was alight like a kitten at Christmas time. "You're not going to believe what I found. Hang on, we're almost there."

"Geez, you'd think it was the Hope diamond or something," Chance snorted, amused.

Jake brought the cart to a jolting halt making Chance hiss. "Hey, take it easy, buddy."

"Come on, over here!" The smaller tom raced to the pile where he'd found his treasure, ignoring Chance's grumbling.

"It's just what I was hoping to find," his slim partner was rattling on, as he approached the towering pile of aircraft salvage and pointed into a section of it. "Tell me what you think of that!"

Chance looked where the cinnamon tom was pointing and his jaw dropped. What he saw was a Grumman F-14 Tomkat, enforcer class, in almost perfect condition. It was missing some sections of its left and right wings, the windows were broken and there the nose cone was crushed, most likely from a crash, but overall it was incredible well preserved.

Somehow, it had managed not to be crushed by the piles of salvage around it. Instead the scrap metal had formed a sort of cage surrounding it, protecting it from the weather and other junk. It was nothing short of a miracle.

"Wow! Fantastic!" Chance managed to say.

"I know... right! With some work and new engines and a few modifications, we could get her air worthy in no time!" Jake exclaimed, excitedly.

Chance whistled at the beautiful jet, "I have to say Jake, she's a real find alright." Looking thoughtful, he murmured, "well there's certainly no shortage of the right parts around here..." His mind was already racing ahead at what they could do with this prize.

"So, does that mean, you're onboard with building our own jet?" Jake asked. He truly hoped that once Chance got a taste of being in the air again, he could convince the tabby of fighting crime too. But he had to rein in his excitement, 'one thing at a time,' he reminded himself.

"Yeah, sure...building a jet and flying...now that I can get behind," Chance said, smiling slowly.

"YES!" Jake cheered, throwing a punch in the air.

As Chance eyed the jet, a small frown formed on his face. Jake noticed.

"What's wrong?"

"It's cool that we've found a jet to work on but do we tell Garrett or keep him in the dark?" Chance asked.

"Oh, yeah, that's right summer's coming so he'll be around more. Well, I say we keep it a secret for now and perhaps tell him later. He'd loved to help us out. I mean, there's nothing wrong with wanting to build a jet and fly again like we used to. I think Garrett would sympathize with us and even get excited about it. No harm in that, is there?" Jake asked, thoughtfully, some of his plans were going to be a problem with Garrett around but...they'd deal with that later right now building it was more important.

Chance thought about it a little more than nodded, sure, I guess that will work. And if he finds out earlier we'll just tell him then."

"Perfect, then is settle. We'll wait to see if Garrett is staying late at school tonight before trying to unbury this and haul it into the hangar," Jake decided, giving the jet one last lingering look before heading back to the cart. Chance followed and they drove back to the garage.

Chance went back to working on the tune up while Jake unloaded his spoils and hauled them down to the hangar.

Forty minutes later, the phone rang. Jake heard it and went to answer it. Using the school's phone Garrett was calling to update his employees.

"Hello…Oh, hey Garrett, how was school?….Oh we're doing fine... we only got like two cars for today... it's been pretty slow.…..sure you can stay at for the club meeting. It's probably going to stay slow till closing so you can stay til five if you like. Yeah...don't worry we'll be fine. Have a good time at your first meeting...and have fun! Atta kit...hahahha...okay then...I'll see ya later...bye." Smiling, Jake hung up and walked to where Chance was just finishing up

"Was that Garrett?"

"Yep. He was asking if we had too much work...told him no and to enjoy attending his first club meeting. Told him he could stay till five if he wanted." Jake grabbed a wrench and laid down on a crawler and rolled under a sedan.

"Oh…. and he agreed?" Chance was a bit surprised since Garrett was a little creeped out about his eccentric club leader and members.

"Well…I did kinda told him he should stay to get to know the members and the clubs rules. As expected, he was reluctant at first but I got him to stay, finally."

Chance snorted, amused. "Good job, buddy. With a little more time and persistence, we'll get him out of his shell."

Jake just sighed as he worked. "Here's hoping. Anyway, let's finish up and get that jet."

Chance shook his head. That jet was going to be all his partner talked about for months to come, he just knew it.

They finished up, called the owners to pick their rigs and completed their paperwork. With no more work or calls, they dared to close the gates then head to the spot where the jet was buried.

Using the heavy lifting crane, Chance carefully peeled the layers of stacked salvage off the pile and made a new stack with Jake's guidance below.

It was tedious and slow work, trying not to have the pile topple and destroy the jet so carefully hidden about midway. However, finally, an hour later, the jet was revealed. Again using the crane's heavy magnet, Chance latched onto the frame and lifted it from its protected nest and lowered it to a flatbed Jake had driven up for the purpose.

He lowered it dead center of the platform bed like it was precious porcelain. Then piled the displaced salvage back on the pile. Done at last, he drove the crane back to its resting spot and shut it down.

Jake was already tying down the jet when he arrived to help. With it tightly secured, Chance took the driver's seat and they were soon navigating to the back of the yard where they'd discovered a hidden launch ramp. It was ticklish going, driving down the very steep and dark tunnel until they reached the bottom.

Jake had been tinkering around below and had carried on Garrett's work of rewiring the hangar and had gotten a large section of it working well. So when they arrived at the lower hangar area, Chance drove the rig onto the huge jet elevator and Jake used a remote to signal it to lift them up to the upper level hangar. It took about ten minutes but they soon arrived and Chance drove off and parked near where they planned on working on the jet.

They made quick work of undoing the restraints but decided, since it was getting so late, that they would just leave it on the truck for now and off load it another time. Hurrying back upstairs, they checked their calls and discovered Ms. Briggs had called.

Chance quickly called her back and found she needed a quick oil change this evening, this being the only time she had to do it. He, of course, agreed. Hanging up the phone, he went out and reopened the gates.

Jake had disappeared upstairs to wash up and found the garage still open. "What's up, Chance?"

"Our lovely deputy mayor is coming in for a quick oil change." Chance was grinning from ear to ear.

The slim tom snorted, amused. "And you want to be here to talk to her and do the job."  
"Yeah, so will you get Garrett?"

"Of course. It's about time to leave to get him anyway." Jake said equitably, grabbing the keys to the sedan and heading out. 'That tom and she-kats, sheesh,' he thought as he drove out of the gates.


	7. Chapter 7: End of the day

**Authors note: had to break it up into two didn't want it to be so long sorry ^^;**

ANOTHER SIDE

Chapter 7: End of the day

Garrett walked into the club meeting room with the twins at his side. They'd met up coming down the hallway. Apparently their lockers weren't far from each other.

When they'd stepped through the door, Rebecca was speaking with Taylor. When she spotted him, she beamed with excitement and hurried over to him.

"Hey Gar, so glad you were able to come today," she clapped her paws together in pleasure.

He blushed and scratched his shaggy hair. He really needed a haircut, it was almost down to his shoulders now. "Yeah, Jake said there wasn't any work waiting so said I should just stay and have fun."

"Hey that's great, dude," the twins said at the same time.

Garrett found their way of speaking in sync rather odd, but he suspected he'd get used to it.

"Who's Jake?" Rebecca asked, grabbing his attention back.

"Oh...ah...he one of the employees at the yard...lives there too with his friend, Chance. They're both great guys," he said, rushed to say, nervously.

"Ooooh really, okay that's cool, I guess. Anyway, since you're staying and I've got an easel here and canvas...would you please show us how you draw?" She indicated the easel that sat near a window nearby.

Taking a deep breath, he nodded and set his backpack down on a nearby desk and walked toward it. There was an already sharpened pencil waiting with an eraser and a few colored pencils nearby should he want to use them, on the sill of the easel. He picked up the pencil and sat still a moment thinking. Only then did he realize all of them were watching him closely.

That made him uncomfortable. He hated being watched but he did offer so couldn't back out now. His real problem at the moment was not knowing what to draw.

"Well, what are you waiting for?" Molly asked from just behind him.

"Uh...well...not sure what to draw..." he said, trailing off, feeling like an idiot.

Rebecca had a brilliant idea and stepped close to Conner and whispered something to him in his ear. He nodded then went to sit on at empty desk just in front and one side of the easel.

He struck a deliberate pose. With his feet firmly on the floor, one arm rested on the desk top while the other propped his chin up on his raised paw as he stared pensively out the classroom window over looking the grounds and distant parking lot.

Garrett raised an eyebrow and looked at Rebecca in question. She smiled brightly at him and said, "he'll be your model. Just draw his upper body and some of the outside, that should be good enough and you don't have to put too many details in if it would take too long."

Garrett couldn't help but smile at her for the idea and the model. He nodded and set to work. Soon he had a rough draft done and he never noticed his audience, so involved was he.

None made any noise as they watched the image of their classmate come to life. Conner was the perfect model, not moving an inch the whole time. Garrett really didn't need a model to stick around like that as he got the image and held it in his mind but, it certainly didn't hurt for getting the find details down accurately.

With a last flourish of his pencil, he announced, "done," and set the pencil down, rubbing his fingers to ease their ache from drawing continuously without a break.

Conner got up to join the others who stared at the completed work. Everyone was amazed at the image there on the easel. It was as if Garrett has simply taken a snapshot rather than done a complete pencil drawing, it was that accurate.

Using the colored pencils, Garrett had captured Conner's sea foam eye color perfectly as well as his fur coloring. Even he was stunned at how well the drawing had come out. He'd never been forced to perform like this before and apparently it had brought more of his talent than he'd imaged it could.

"Damn…" was all Conner could say.

Rebecca had a evil smirk on her face, "were so gonna kick all the other art clubs asses."

Lily surprised them with a small wow, while the twins gave double echoes of 'that's amazing'.

Garrett could only blush and muttered, "gee, thanks for all the compliments. I've never had such a wonderful response to my work before." Maybe this won't be so bad after all.

"Wait a minute now. This drawing needs just one more thing." She pulled a black sharpy from her pocket and handed it to him. "Write your full name in your best hand writing on a corner of it, marking it as yours."

Garrett was surprised but did as she told him, writing his name the most fancy way he could in the bottom left hand corner.

Rebecca lifted the canvas and walked towards an empty space on the wall, she placed it on a nail already in place and hung it alongside his fellow club members work.

He felt rather ashamed he'd not noticed the decorated wall before now. Everyone was displayed either in a drawing or in a photograph of their sculpture, instrument, or other art form they did displayed in mural fashion on the wall. All were autographed.

"All of these pictures were done by everyone present. We either drew, painted, sculpted, or played an instrument or sang. Next to that are pictures of us during competitions and the last talent show given here at the school. That happens just before we let out for summer vacation. You must do something with music to earn a permanent place here on the wall like the rest of us," she said, pointing to a bare spot beside his drawing. "And we always sign our work. Who knows they might be worth something someday."

He couldn't help but stare a little wide eye at all this. It made him feel good inside to be a part of this. However, he still fretted about the music part of this. He still wasn't so sure he'd be able to do it.

Rebecca didn't miss his sudden worried look. She put a gentle paw on his shoulder and leaned close. "I know you're worried about being able to do something you've never tried before. All of us went through that, trust me. But we all succeeded and you can to.

"Yeah, don't worry dude, you'll get up there, we'll make sure of it," John piped up.

Kelly walked up to her mural. "I was really good at playing the drums but totally sucked at drawing, painting, or sculpting. However, Rebecca showed me the basic's and I succeeded just enough to make it on the wall, so I know how you're feeling." She smiled warmly at him which kinda surprised him.

Taylor walked up next to him looking at his own mural, with a sculpture of himself and a picture of him playing the piano at the talent show. "My mother taught me how to play the piano when I was very young. I really didn't care to learn drawing or painting and I thought sculpting was far too messy but Rebecca convinced me it would be fun and she was right. I enjoyed every minute of it." He smiled at the memory.

Garrett looked around at the pleased smiles then back at Rebecca. "You helped them all get up there?" He was stunned.

She nodded. "Yeah I sure did but it weren't easy and I can guarantee I will get you up there as well...wait and see." She smiled encouragingly at him.

That made him smile; he looked back up the wall. "You know…I'm already liking this club.'

Rebecca gave him a hardy slap to the back. "That's the spirit."

By the time it was five, the club was ready to close for the day. The all walked together out to the parking lot. Garrett saw the sedan and waved goodbye to his new friends before climbing in.

When he turned to put his seatbelt on he was surprised to see it was Jake behind the wheel.

"Jake? Well this is a surprise."

Jake chuckled. "Ms. Briggs came in needing an oil change just when it was time to pick you up. Chance of course, wanted to do the job and chat her up so I came to get you instead."

The teen laughed at this. He well understood the allure of a pretty she-kat. And he had to admit, that she-kat was a real knock out. He would have done the same if he'd been a little older.

"Hey, Garrett, how good are you at driving?" Jake asked.

Surprised, Garrett gave Jake an unsure look. "Um, I know how to drive a vehicle but have never done any on the street, " he murmured, nervously.

"Well, it's only a short drive, the streets aren't busy this time of day, so you want to give it a try? I won't twist your arm but you should learn how to do it soon enough anyway if you're to help with towing jobs and such. You game?" He gave the teen an encouraging smile.

Jake did had a point, he was gonna have to drive to help out at the shop sooner or later. "Okay, I'll try," he said smiling tentatively.

"You do know all the rules of the road; four way stops, green lights, rights of way, speed limits, that sort of thing?" Jake asked, just to be sure the teen was knowledgeable.

Garrett nodded.

"Have your temporary license on you?"

"Yes."

"Good, then take the driver's seat." Jake said, climbing out and switching places with the teen.

Garrett climbed nervously behind the wheel and clicked his seat belt.

"First get familiar with this car." Jake ran him through the differences of their sedan vs the tow truck, made sure Garrett knew where to find the turn signals, lights, shifter, and parking brake. "Okay, take off when you're ready."

Taking a deep breath, he put the car in drive and easily drove out of the school parking lot. They'd gone about a mile and Jake was impressed. The teen was doing well and kept below the speed limit the whole way.

They were soon home without a single incident. Garrett blushed with pride and from the compliments from Jake on his excellent driving skills.  
They climbed out of the vehicle and Jake handed him his backpack then walked into the garage while Garrett paused outside and stared around a moment in thought.

Somehow being with Jake in the car had reminded him of times with his father. Ever since the two ex-enforcers had entered his life things had been much better for him. He was one very lucky kitten. He had needed guidance and friendship, now he had both. Looking up at the sky, he had the feeling his parents were smiling down at him


	8. Chapter 8: Surprises

ANOTHER SIDE

Chapter 8: Surprises

Another day had past and it was now Friday, Garrett put on a black T-Shirt that said over his chest Got Milk? He wore a brown woven necklace that had a gray coin hanging from it and a dark pair of jeans.

He walked down the hall and heard the sink running...Jake was up. He continued walking to the kitchen and made for the stove but paused halfway there. He really didn't feel like cooking today so turned toward the pantry and got some cereal out.

Placing the bowl on the table, he poured the cereal then added milk. Before putting the milk away, he poured some of it into a coffee cup he'd filled with what was made only thirty minutes ago via the timer he'd set the night before. He sat down to eat then heard Jake coming down the hall. The slim tom appeared in the opening and smiled at him.

"First up as usual, I see," Jake said, amused, grabbing a mug and pouring himself some coffee. He was dressed for work in his coveralls and backward facing baseball cap.

The teen smirked a little. "Maybe if a certain someone didn't take so long in the bathroom, they'd be first down here," he said, mockingly, scooping up a bite of cereal.

Jake gave him a pretend glare, "Hey bathroom in the morning is my me time, I prefer to look nice every morning, thank you very much," he growled, grabbing an apple.

Garrett raised his paws in play defense but kept his smirk, "Well, sorry Mr. Fabulous." He snickered.

Jake snorted, a small smile on his face. He ruffled the teen's hair as he passed, making Garrett groan in annoyance, before taking a seat next to him.

"Why do you guys keep doing that?" Garrett whined, his hair now ruffled.

"Because you deserved it." Jake said, giving him an evil smirk then taking a bite of his apple.

Garrett simply glared at the slim tom and continued eating his breakfast.

Only minutes later, Chance entered the room, looking a bit better then he did yesterday.

"Morning Chance." Garrett chirped.

Chance stopped and stared at the two for a second.

Garrett raised an eyebrow and cocked his head, "What?"

"I swear, you're becoming to much like Jake," Chance noted, then headed to the coffee pot to pour himself some into an empty mug on the counter.

Garrett gave him a questioning look and was about to say something when Jake spoke up.

"Is that a bad thing?" his partner asked crossing his arms.

"Nah. Just noticing it is all," Chance smiled a little before taking a seat at the table and sipping his coffee.

Garrett looked over at Jake and asked, "so we're going to get cell phones today?"

Jake nodded. "Yea, after work we're gonna take you. I called Kat-Mobile yesterday and I got us three phones. They surpass my standards and aren't too pricey, which is great."

"Awesome! Uhm...can we make a side trip?" Garrett asked, casually.

"Of course, where do you need to go?" Jake asked equitably.

"The barber...I need a hair cut." He tugged a strand of hair.

"Oh…sure that's fine," Jake said, smiling. "It is kinda going over your eyes a little bit."

"Yea I know... I got distracted these past few weeks, so I never made time to go get it done," Garrett remarked, scratching the back of his head.

"Well don't cut it too short or I won't be able to tell you two apart," Chance said, smirking.

Garrett smiled back. "Don't worry...I'm just cutting it short, and we don't look that much alike."

Chance shook his head, "if you think that you really haven't been looking closely. You guys have the same fur coloring and are very similar in build, with the only differences being your hair and eyes."

"And height, don't forget," Jake reminded his partner. "Now if I wore a lift then we'd be nearly twins." His eyes glinted with amusement.

Garrett gave them a blank stare. "Whatever." He rose from the table and took his dishes to the sink, beginning to wash them.

When the kitchen was set to rights, the three decided to watch TV. They settled on a favorite show of Garrett's called CSI.

'Guess it explains how the he learned to do investigation well enough to determine what caused the damage on our jet,' Jake mused, silently as he watched how avidly Garrett watched the show.

The best part of the show was just beginning when the bus arrived outside. Picking up his backpack, he headed for the door.

"Looks like you won't know who killed that lawyer," Chance commented.

"It's cool, I already know who killed him," Garrett said dismissively, as he slipped his shoes on near the door.

Chance blinked in surprise at the teen, "really?"

"Yea his wife did it so she could cash in his life insurance and get his life saving's so she could run off with that life guard." He tied his shoes and was about to leave.

"Bingo." Jake sang out...seeing the enforcer arrest the wife and the lifeguard who aided her in the crime.

"Told ya, I'll see ya guys later." He rushed out the door and down the stairs just hearing Chance's yelled, "I'll pick you up later!" He yelled back, "Okay!" before running out the garage door and across the yard to the bus.

Chance glanced over to his partner. "Guess it explains how he figured out we weren't the one's who crashed into the enforcer building." Echoing Jake's thought of moment's ago.

Jake nodded, "Yea, reminds me of myself when I was younger."

Chance chuckled, "Told ya he's like you." He received a playful punch to the shoulder .

"Yea, Yea, whatever...we better get to work." Jake rose from the couch and headed for the stairs.

Chance shut the TV off and followed his partner.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

The day passed in its usual way except when he walked into his English class, he surprised himself by going to sit beside Rebecca.

She grinned at him in surprise. "Wow! And I didn't even have to call you over this time."

Garrett just blushed a little and smiled as he pulled out his notebook then put his backpack on the back of his seat. "Well I figured you were gonna call me over anyway, I figured I'd save you the trouble."

She giggled, "True." She opened her textbook. "By the way, we're not having a club meeting today, I have errands to run with my mom after school." She sighed a little in regret.

Garrett lowered his ears he was a little disappointed but nodded. "It's okay I understand and I have errands too."

She brightened a little to learn he would be busy though he had looked disappointed the club wouldn't be meeting which pleased her. It meant he was enjoying being with them. She was about to say something else when the teacher called the class to order. She sighed and decided to tell him after class.

When class ended and they were stuffing their books and papers into their backpacks, Rebecca asked, " hey, Gar, mind if I ask you something?"

"Sure what is it?"

"Well, all of us are going to the beach this Sunday. My dad told me your shop is closed that day so would you like to come with us?" They were walking out of the classroom and down the hall when she'd dropped that on him. He nearly froze in midstep.

Feeling a bit flustered and horribly shy, especially when she mentioned the beach, Garrett lied, "Uh…Gee I loved to but…uh… I promised Jake and Chance we'd go to the movies that day."

Her ears lowered in dismay. "Oh, okay ...it was kinda last minute anyway. We go to the beach a lot and, since Taylor's sister is a life guard there, we get a discount. Next time, I'll make sure to let you know in advance so you can plan on coming with us." That decision seemed to make her happier.

Inside his heart sank but outwardly, he was able to give her a wane smile and say, "sure...I should be able to make it then." 'Damn, how do I avoid this?' he wondered, helplessly to himself.

"Better pick up the pace or we'll be late to our next class...oh...and don't worry...I told Taylor to lay off you," she told him brightly.

"Oh...thanks. Hey, I'm getting a cell phone today should I call you or text you my number?" he asked.

She placed a paw under her chin thinking for a sec, "Just text me and I'll add you to my contacts. I'll also send you everyone else's numbers so you can keep in touch with them...that alright?"

He nodded, "Sure, that would be great." She gave him a pat on the arm then parted from him to head for her class.

His next class was gym so he hurried into the locker room, changed, then rushed out to the playing area. At no time did he see Taylor which surprised him. They day's lesson was simple exercises followed by a game ov volleyball. His team didn't win because they were the ones who hated gym and never made any real effort. He hated that he hadn't gotten selected for one of the better teams. Playing with losers was a drag.

Returning to the locker room, there was Taylor leaning against the wall beside the door of the locker room, looking like he was waiting for someone. Garrett hadn't seen him so was unprepared when a voice spoke right into his ear.

"Hey Garrett."

He jumped a little in startlement which made him speak rather nervously, "Uh...hey Taylor." He kept his eyes on his locker as he pulled out his clothes.

Taylor wasn't blind to how nervous and uncomfortable Garrett was so he said softly, while scratching his neck, "Uh...hey...look I'm sorry for coming on to you like that...didn't mean to scare you." He frowned and glanced away uncomfortably.

Garrett blinked in surprise and dared to look at Taylor directly when he answered. He could see the boy was uncomfortable too which made him feel a little better. "It's okay, you didn't know and I wasn't much help...sorry." He laughed a bit self consciously.

"Hey, you're shy, I dig that and shouldn't have scared you that way. I want to get off to a better foot with you...so we cool now?" Taylor asked.

Garrett relaxed and nodded, saying, "Yea were cool!" The two smiled then Garrett went to dress.

Before he turned to leave, Taylor eyed the handsome profile before it disappeared out of view then sighed, 'why must all the cute one's be straight.' He headed out for class but a stray thought made him smile, "...but then he might change his mind... stranger things have happened before.'

When lunch rolled around, Garrett found himself looking forward to it as he entered the room and spotted his new friends at his usual spot. He walked through the throng of students toward the table. Rebecca caught sight of him and gave him a megawatt smile.

'That girl sure does smile a lot,' he thought.

"Hey Gar, glad you could join us."

That nickname still felt a bit odd to him yet but he said nothing about it as he sat down next to her and began eating his apple. They all chattered about this and that as they ate then Garrett pulled out his sketch pad and began to draw. That pulled everyone's attention toward him.

His sketch drew lots of compliments which made him smile with pride. He was amazed how comfortable he was around them even though it had only been a short time. He found it easier to begin conversations and join in on others, showing more enthusiasm than he'd expected. Now he was beginning to regret turning down Rebecca's offer of going to the beach with all of them. But the desire wasn't strong enough to get him near water.

When lunch ended, they parted for their own classes, dismayed he wouldn't be going with them and that they'd have to wait to see him on Monday. Now he felt even worse about ducking the trip as it was obvious they truly wanted him there.

Sighing he went off to class and finished the day on a rather low note. When school let out, he used the payphone to call Chance that he wasn't staying late today.

Chance could hear the disappointment in the teen's voice at the club's cancellation when he told Garrett he would be by to pick him up in a few.


	9. Chapter 9: The storm

**Another Side**

Chapter 9: The Storm

When the tom showed up thirty minutes later, Garrett hopped inside and buckled up.

Chance smiled. "Hey kiddo, so was school any better today?" he asked, pressing the gas pedal and exiting the parking lot.

"Yea, actually it was for once," Garrett said, smiling a little.

"Good to know, though it kinda sucks your club meeting was canceled today."

Frowning a little, Garrett sighed, "Yea…it kinda does." Then he turned to look out the window, watching the passing scenery.

Chance noticed the grimace and was pleased as this meant the club was doing the teen some good and helping him make friends when having it canceled caused him such dismay.

"Where's Jake?" Garrett asked.

"Oh, we had two cars come in just before you called so Jake said he'd stay and work on them while I take you to get our new phones and stop by the barber."

"Oh, okay...sounds cool," Garrett's voice not as enthused as it should have been...he really had wanted to work today.

Chance knew why the kid looked a little down and it wasn't just because of the club canceling though that was certainly part of it. He smiled and placed a paw on the kit's shoulder with one paw, the other still on the steering wheel. "Don't worry, I told Jake to save ya one car."

Garrett smiled brightly at the news. "Really? Thanks! I've been wanting to stick my paws in something covered with grease all day."

Laughing at the kit's enthusiasm Chance turned and parked in front of the Kat-Mobile store, the two exited the car and walked in. He looked around as they headed for the counter. "Jake already picked out the phones, all we have to do is sign the paperwork and pay...shouldn't take more than ten minutes."

Garrett nodded and went to look at the phones on display near the front window. A movement caught his eye and he looked outside. Rolling in were heavy gray clouds. He grimaced unhappily, 'that doesn't look like a small storm.'

Just as Chance promised, he got all the paper stuff signed and received three boxes with their phones inside. Calling the kit over, the two headed back to the car, climbed in and drove to the barbershop.

Fifteen minutes later, they reached the shop just as a serious gust of wind blew, nearly knocking Chance's cap off.

The tom placed a protective paw to his head and muttered, "Geez, looks like it's going to be a doozy of a storm. We'd better hurry." Garrett nodded and the two entered the shop.

A she-kat with brown hair down to her shoulders greeted them; Chance told her the kit needed a haircut.

She smiled coyly at the burly tom. "Sure handsome, come on sweetie." She led the teen to a chair, asked how short he wanted it, then began cutting his hair. She was done in less then twenty minutes. He'd gotten an inch off his length and got it thinned too.

He thanked her and saw Chance was reading a car magazine when he walked up. The big tom smiled, put the mag back and looked the haircut over.

Smiling he said, "Looking good kiddo, you'll be pulling in the girls in no time." He gave Garrett a wink.

The teen blushed hotly as Chance paid the bill and gave the she-kat a broad smile making her dimple sweetly at him. A flash of lightning made her gasp. Chance and Garrett turned to look outside and saw it had begun to drizzle and the sky was filled with dark thunderclouds. They hurried out to the car and ducked inside.

"Looks like a nasty storm rolling in. Better scurry home," Chance said, eyeing the sky in concern as he put the car in gear and headed out of the parking lot.

Garrett noticed the oddly traffic-less road and commented, "looks like everyone is already home."

Chance nodded, "Yea probably trying to get out of this storm." He turned at an upcoming intersection landing them on the back road leading to the yard. Only a few farm houses dotted the area, the Salvage Yard taking most of the land hereabouts.

The storm was getting worse as the high winds buffeted and rocked the car more than normal and the rain pelted down like bullets making driving very difficult.

Garrett stared out the rain filled windshield in concern. "Damn, I don't remember seeing a storm this bad before, you can't even see the road."

"Don't worry we'll be-" Chance began to say before being interrupted by a boom and then a bolt of lighting striking a tree to the right of the road. Chance cursed and swerved to avoid the now falling tree as it headed for the spot he had been passing under.

The sudden violent movement sent Garrett hard against the passenger door, slamming his shoulder against the frame.

"Sorry kit," Chance grunted, his paws gripping the steering wheel hard, his eyes firmly on the nearly invisible roadway. He pressed on the gas more hoping to get them home quicker.

"It's okay, I'm not hurt. That was close and I'm glad you're such a good driver," Garrett said, sincerely, rubbing his sore arm.

Out in the distance in front of them the sky started to swirl, which made Chance press hard on the breaks bringing them to a stop as he gaped in shock.

"Uh Chance…I don't think we should try to go that way," Garrett said in a small voice, tight with fear.

Chance shook off his shock and pressed on the gas turning the wheel sharply, performing a complete u-turn sending them speeding back toward the city as fast as he dared.

"Where are we going," the teen shouted, holding on as best he could and they raced along.

"I saw a parking garage at that intersection. We'll take shelter there until this blows over," Chance shouted back. He had to swerve widely to get around the tree that fell in their path earlier. They were just a block from the intersection when the car motor ceased running.

Shocked, Chance kept his paws on the wheel and guided the now dead car forward until it slowed enough for him to brake safely from their high speed. That sent them shooting past the intersection some distance before they stopped.

"What the hell happened to the car? Nothing's working...not even the radio!" Garrett said, testing the radio and other electrics on the dash.

"I don't know," Chance said tightly, as he attempted to restart the car but nothing happened except for a ticking sound. "I changed the battery a month ago," he said, angrily. Reflexively, he looked up and stared in his rear view mirror, concerned someone might hit them.

Instead of a car, he saw a huge bird like creature flying up on them. "What the hell is that..." he gasped, rolling down his window to take a better look.

"Huh? What are you... oh my god!" Garrett gawked as the bird passed over them and continued on into the city.

Chance shook off his stunned amazement when he realized something else was happening. "It seems that storm is following it too, as strange as that sounds. We'd better hoof it to the parking garage quickly."

Garrett nodded, pointing a claw to their left. Apparently, they had managed to drift far enough to be very close to the parking facility.

"We should be able to make it," Garrett said, preparing to get out of the car. Chance was already pushing hard on the door as the wind was fighting to keep it closed.

As they both managed to get out, the rain pelted them hard and the wind threatened to sweep them off their feet as they ran like mad for the cement structure.

Chance reached cover first and immediately turned around to see if Garrett was there too. The teen was not far away though he stumbled a bit due to the wind but kept on coming. Staring upward at the sky, Chance saw another threat.

"Garrett RUN!" he screamed, watching in horror as another of those birds came flying overhead but spotted the teen and was dipping down for a closer look.

Garrett didn't dare look behind him or he'd fall. Whatever was after him had freaked Chance out who was waving madly at him to put on speed.

He was within a few feet of Chance when he saw a huge shadow sweeping over him and a weird, scary scream. Chance's arms were reaching out to him and he put on a burst of speed then leaped forward.

Chance caught him in his strong arms and quickly threw them both to the side, rolling away from the entrance. Garrett managed to get a glimpse of what had terrified Chance. The huge bird screamed in anger at missing its prey before soaring upward and vanishing from view.

They lay on the cold concrete floor for long minutes, hearts hammering as they listened hard. No more sounds but that of the passing storm could be heard. Rolling to a seated position, his arms still around the teen, Chance looked him over quickly.

"You alright, no injuries?" he asked anxiously.

"I'm okay, thanks for saving me. What the hell was that thing?" Garrett asked as he pulled free of Chance and stood up.

"Beats me. I've never seen anything like that but then Megakat City is prone to nasty surprises," Chance said, catching his breath and waiting for his heart to slow, climbing to his feet as well.

The two of them went to sit on some curbing sheltered by a solid wall where they could wait out the storm. They hadn't sat more than a second when the air filled with new sounds.

Chance jumped to his feet and stared outside. He could hear the distinctive sound of enforcer sirens, gunfire, and explosions through the noise of the rain and thunder. But he couldn't see the battle itself. It was obvious to him, the storm had brought more than rain and giant birds. Trouble had come to the city again but he was no longer an enforcer to do anything but hide like normal Katizens were forced to do. He found he didn't like that much.

He glanced back at Garrett who stared up at him with huge eyes. Walking back over to the teen, he sat down beside him and put a paw on his shoulder.

"It okay, we're safe here. You're sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, but the city isn't," the teen said worriedly.

"Don't worry, the enforcers will do their best to keep it safe."

Garrett nodded but still looked worried.

~O~O~O~O~

The storm finally blew off some thirty minutes later, which was strange as was the total lack of traffic anywhere. Chance decided to go see if his sedan would start now, so the two of them walked back to it while keeping an eye on the sky, but, except for some stray gray clouds, it was clearing and no sign of the odd birds.

To Chance's surprise the sedan started easily. "What the heck?"

"Maybe it was magnetic interference from that weird storm," Garrett suggested, thoughtfully.

All Chance could do was shake his head and climb into the driver's side. "I don't know...it's possible I guess...still it was strange..." He let his sentence fade off as he fiddled with his CB, trying to pull in anything.

Suddenly, a very familiar voice was shouting, "get this ...bird off the street...figure out how it got here..." Chance frowned, saying, "sounds like Feral and his lackeys have finally gotten things under control."

"That's good," the teen sighed in relief.

"Let's head home, Jake might be worried," Chance said as he u-turned back toward the salvage yard and raced off.

"Oh, that's right, he would have heard about how bad the storm was and be scared for us. Wow, what an adventure to end the day," Garrett said with feeling, smiling a little.

Chance chuckled at him, glad he wasn't too upset by what happened.

Again they had to pass around the massive tree but nothing else stopped them and in another fifteen minutes they were pulling into the salvage yard and parking next to the garage.

~O~O~O~O~O~

They had just gotten out of the sedan when a slim figure burst outside running toward them and shouted, "are you alright, no hurt?" Jake asked anxiously, his face pale.

"Hey, it's okay, buddy. No one's hurt. Garrett might be bruised up a bit but he's okay," Chance soothed his friend quickly. "Come on, let's go inside and get something to drink and sit down."

Chance led the way to the waiting room and went to the fridge. Jake was badly shaken and felt the need to wrap an arm around Garrett's shoulders and pull him tightly to his side as they walked into the building after his partner. The teen let him as he could feel how shook up the slim tom was.

After drinking some milk, Chance told Jake what had happened. Jake paled even more when he learned how close Garrett came to being snatched by some huge bird.

Giving Garrett a hard hug then releasing him when the kit winced, he look at the teen closely. "Tell me the truth, is it just bruising?" Jake asked, concerned.

"Yeah, promise."

Jake huffed out a relieved breath. "Glad you both survived that weird attack and weather in one piece. I wonder where the heck those things came from?"

"Don't know, never seen anything like 'em. Anyway, Feral and crew apparently took care of them then the storm disappeared like magic," Chance said, shaking his head.

Jake grimaced unhappily. "Oh joy, another new enemy to plague the city, I bet."

"Possible but nothing we can do about it," Chance grunted, a bitter note in his voice.

His partner said nothing to that but he did take note of Chance unhappiness at not being able to take action against such things. Perhaps, he would now be ready for what Jake planned. He would have to wait and see.

He looked over at Garrett and eyed him with concern. "You okay about what happened?"

"Well, the whole experience made me want to get up there and take those things out myself for destroying things and nearly killing me. I've decided I want to be an enforcer!" Garrett said seriously, though his eyes shone with excitement.

The two toms stared at him in stunned amazement for a long moment before Jake managed to say, "Enforcers?"

"Oh yeah! I've seen what you guys can do on TV. I've watched the enforcers handle the omegas and all the weird happenings that go one in the city and I want to be one of those that takes them out. I felt such a rush of adrenaline when running from that bird, it was unlike anything I've ever felt before. I know you guys were screwed over by Feral but he should be long gone by the time I'm old enough to join."

Chance shook his head but Jake just gave the kit a small smile. "Well, I can understand that feeling, we both had that when we were enforcers but you have to remember, it's not all excitement and fighting...there's a lot of hard work, tedious paperwork, and assholes to deal with too."

"Oh, yeah, but that's true of any job. But this is the only job where you're saving Kat's lives and bringing in criminals, like Dark Kat. I might even chose to work in the CSI Division. I want to make a difference in my life and this is where I think I can do that by saving other's lives," he said, determination in his eyes.

"That's a noble calling and if that's what you want to do, then we'll support you all the way. However, first you must finish school with good grades and it wouldn't hurt to get your body in the physical shape required to pass the entrance tests at the enforcer academy. Chance and I would be happy to train you in many of the fighting and physical fitness requirements we learned at the academy, if you like?"

Garrett's face beamed. "Really? That'll be cool. I took karate when I was five until...well you know. But I did my best to continue my training using online videos."

Chance looked surprised and pleased. "That's great, that means we only have to fine tune what you know and teach you other fighting methods as well."

"That might not be completely necessary though I certainly won't turn down adding to my training and getting stronger at it. Remember when I said my mom told me to learn to fend for myself?"

Puzzled, the two toms nodded.

"Well she meant 'fend' in more ways then one." He scratched the back of his neck a bit self consciously.

"Uh huh...so what belt are you," Jake asked.

"Black. I took all forms of Karate till I moved here and had to quit," Garrett said, a little pride in his voice.

Jake nodded, impressed by what the teen had managed so far. "That's good but it's not all you need to learn. I myself know karate, street fighting, Jujitsu, and weapons fighting. If you're serious, we'll spar and see what you still need to work on and teach you some new stuff as well."

Garrett looked skeptical. He knew he was good. "Wouldn't mind some new moves but in Karate, we'll see who lands on the floor first," he smirked.

Jake just gave the teen an evil smile and said, "hmm, we'll just see about that." Garrett didn't know or realize age played a lot in just how powerful your moves could be but he was willing to show him the error of his thinking and knock the cockiness that youth brings right out of the teen.

Chance chuckled. "Okay, enough of this, we should get back to work. I betcha five bucks were gonna get a lot of cars to fix today."

"Won't take that bet," Jake snorted, amused.

Garrett went upstairs to change into his work overalls. The teen walked into his room and closed the door leaning against it a minute. "Man what a day." He stared out the window to see the dark clouds were gone leaving only bright sunshine moving toward dusk.

**AN: Now things are gonna get interesting from here on out X3**


	10. Chapter 10: Competition

**ANOTHER SIDE**

Chapter 10: Competition.

On a hot afternoon the three mechanics were working on an old station wagon, exchanging conversation and laughing at jokes each other told. Suddenly, the phone began ringing in the office. Garrett was nearest so put down his wrench and went to take the call.

"Megakat Auto Repair and Towing, can I help you?...yeah...location...okay...yes, we'll send a tow truck right away...you're welcome...good bye." Garrett scribbled down the information on a pick up sheet while he was listening to the caller. Hanging up the phone, he ripped the sheet off the pad and headed back into the garage.

"We got a call from a poor she-kat stuck out on sixty-seven and she'd just wilting in this heat. Who want's the job?" He waved the sheet in the air.

Chance sighed and put his tool down and grabbed a rag to wipe his paws off. "I'll take it."

Garrett smiled as he handed off the order to Chance then picked his wrench up and set to work again.

Jake looked up from the engine he was working on to eye his partner, "... think you'll need a paw?" he offered.

Chance looked behind him, smiling a little. "Nah, sounds like a simple pick up...shouldn't take me long." He grabbed the keys off the hook inside the office.

"Don't take her over that famous short cut of yours...last time you took me over that and I nearly tossed up my lunch!" Garrett warned the blonde tabby.

Chance just stuck his tongue out at him immaturely. "Wouldn't dream of it," he snorted in good humor. "Be back in a little while." With that he went outside.

He checked the order. 'Hmm, a 2009 white sedan, okay. Wow! It is really hot out here. The truck feels like an oven,' he gasped, quickly reeling down the windows when he'd climbed aboard. Starting it, he was heading out the yard and down the road in moments.

Back at the garage Jake was checking the oil on the wagon while Garrett was replacing a rear tire. As he worked, Jake asked, "Got any idea's for your art club?".

Garrett didn't respond at first as he got the tire off with a grunt and carried it out of the way then grabbed a replacement tire off the stack nearby.

"Well, I got an idea from that time Chance said we looked like twins in a way. I thought it would be cool to do a pic with you and I wearing large headphones, large musical notes surrounding us and we'd have pimping rave clothes on to spice it up..." he paused to think a moment then grinned and added, "...with us holding lasers!"

Jake chuckled and was a little flattered, "That sounds cool, got a title for it?" He placed the long piece of metal back in the oil holder and wiped his paws.

Garrett paused for a sec, then he snapped his fingers. "I got it, Kagamine."

Jake blinked in confusion, "Say what? What does that mean?"

Garrett was twisting the last bolt of the tire down as he answered, "Kagamine, it's Japanese for mirror sound. It describes the image perfectly...get it? Headphones...musical notes surrounding us...and our nearly mirror appearance...mirror sound...see?"

Jake smiled, "yeah, I see and it sounds really interesting. Can't wait to see it." He looked around the garage a moment and said, "well I think we're pretty much done with this one finally." He slammed the hood down.

"Yeah, good thing too, I'm all sweaty and would love a cool shower about now. You want to call the owner or should I?" He asked. Despite wearing a sleeveless black tee shirt, and with two fans going full blast, the garage was like an oven.

Jake pulled his collar a bit. He was wearing his usual coveralls and there was a sweat line down his back and front from the heat. "Yeah, it is a little toasty in here."

Garrett shucked his shirt and laid it over a stack of tires then walked over to one of the fans, sighing in relief.

Jake snorted and said, "Can't handle a little heat huh?" Garrett ignored him as he opened his arms to allow more of the moving air to play over his body. Jake just shook his head.

A black SUV came rolling in through the gate, a pinging sound clearly heard as it stopped in front of the garage door. Jake ambled outside to greet the customer.

Two doors opened. The driver was a slim tom about Chance's height wearing jeans and a button up plaid T-shirt. The passenger climbed out revealing a young she-kat wearing a blue tank top which said 'parole baby!' across her chest and a pair of cardigan pants and flip-flops.

"Hi, my name is Jake. What can we do for you folks?" the slim tom said, shaking the visitor's paw.

The tall tom was about to speak when the she-kat interrupted him. "Wait…you're Jake?" she asked, seeming surprised and pleased at the same time.

Jake raised an eyebrow, "yes I am, do I know you?"

She shook her head and smiled. "Nope, but I know about you. Gee, you guys really do look much alike," she giggled.

Jake's face was the picture of confusion which cleared in a moment when the she-kat stared past him to Garrett whose back was to them as he continued to cool himself off in front of the fan and hadn't heard the car pull up.

She had an evil smirk on her face, placed a finger over her lips in a 'be silent' gesture then walked into the garage.

The two toms watched her sneak up on Garrett...Jake was fascinated while the other tom just shook his head.

Garrett was in the zone, enjoying the cooling power of the fan. The roar kept him from hearing anything so wasn't prepared when the she-kat leaned close and took a deep breath.

"HI GARRETT!"

Garrett jolted upward, heart thundering from the scare that felt like it had shaved two lives off him. He whirled around and was shocked to see, "R-Rebecca?" He gasped, a bit wild-eyed.

Clapping her paws in delight, she grinned widely at him and asked, innocently, "surprised to see me?"

"Oh yeah, definitely," he managed to blurt out then realized he was still shirtless. However, it was too far away for him to grab so he crossed one arm self-consciously across his chest while the other reached up to scratch his neck in nervous tension.

The two didn't see Jake and the tall, gray furred, tom stroll casually up to them. The older tom cleared his throat loudly.

Rebecca turned around and smiled brightly. "Oh Daddy! This is Garrett the newest member of my art club. His drawings are amazing and, as you remember, he lives and works here!" she said by way of introduction.

Garrett stared at the older tom a bit nervously. He remembered him as one of his regular customers. He nodded politely while turning to Rebecca and murmuring, "daddy?"

Jake, who was leaning against the station wagon, watched them and snickered a little at the funny situation.

Rebecca's father studied the young tom closely, no smile on his face, his expression serious and stern. Even more nervous under such scrutiny, Garrett couldn't help but lower his ears and hunch his shoulders, wishing he could disappear. The old tom intimidated him a bit.

Seeing Garrett close in on himself as he did when he was far too nervous and afraid, Rebecca got angry with her father. "Daddy! Quit scaring him! It took me forever to get him to open up with just me then the other members of the club and there you go making him hide again!" She barked at him sternly, shaking a finger at him.

Her father eyed her mildly then smiled slightly. "Calm down, Becky. I was simply going to ask if he could fix the pinging in my car." He turned to Garrett and asked firmly, "think you can figure it out there, son?"

Perking up since it dealt with something he knew well, Garrett nodded quickly, "Yes sir." He took the proffered key and headed out to the car while her father went to the lounge. Jake went to the office and grabbed a customer clipboard and took it to the tom to fill out.

Rebecca had stayed outside and watched Garrett. "Sorry about him he does that to every tom I talk to." She looked down at his chest, "And with your current lack of clothing, that probably didn't help either." She laughed a little.

Garrett blushed, tail wrapping around his left leg. "It got…really hot in there…" he explained, extremely uncomfortable around her right now.

She giggled covering her mouth with her paw, "I can certainly understand that. I can feel the heat just standing out here." Suddenly, a taxi rolled in through the gate and she sighed. "Well, there's our ride, I'd better go. It was nice seeing you and, by the way, you look hot!" she smirked and winked before turning away and joining her dad in the cab.

Garrett could only gape after her, his whole body red as a tomato under his fur, even to his ear tips.

Having watched the whole thing, Jake gave Garrett a sly smile and placed an arm across the mortified teen's shoulders and murmured low enough that the departing pair wouldn't hear him, "I think she likes you."

Garrett, shook off Jake and gave him a punch to the arm then walked out to move the car so he could work on it.

Just after the taxi had arrived, Chance came rolling in with a car in tow. Pulling past the garage doors, he parked and climbed out. He walked to the control panel on the towing mechanism and turned the switch on. As the car dropped to the ground slowly, he glanced over and watched idly, as an older tom and young she-kat got into the waiting cab, slammed the doors, then the cab drove out the gate and disappeared from view.

Finished with his task, Chance made for the open bay door and peered in. Garrett and Jake were just getting started on a black SUV.

Stepping into the garage, he called out, "I'm back. So what's up with this thing?"

Garrett didn't respond, his attention firmly on the car. Chance raised a eyebrow at the teen's behavior and glanced over at his partner who looked up at him and smirked a little.

"Don't mind him. The car has been pinging and the customer wants to know why. We heard it when it drove in."

"Hmm, so it might be the same problem Callie had a few weeks ago," Chance mused, coming closer and staring down at the engine.

"It's possible," Jake said agreeably. "By the way, did you see the she-kat with the old guy getting in the cab?" he asked casually.

Garrett jerked his head up and gave Jake a 'Don't say a fricking word or I'll kill you' look..

Chance raised an eyebrow, noting the hostile look from Garrett and curious about the reason for it, as he answered, "Yeah...why?"

Jake chuckled a little, "That was Rebecca...Garrett's eccentric club leader."

Chance's eyes widened, turning his head toward the door and back again. "Really...that was her?"

Jake nodded, "Yep and that was her dad...a regular customer here." He ignored the grumbling coming from the teen.

Chance eyed Garrett, noted the lack of a shirt, put two and two together, but just to be sure he pointed at the bare chested teen and eyed Jake questioningly. His partner nodded, grinning even wider. Chance burst out laughing.

Jake chuckled and couldn't resist adding, "you should of seen him...he was soo red...OW!" he exclaimed when Garrett elbowed him in the ribs...hard. The slim tom just rubbed his abused side and continued grinning undeterred.

Chance shook his head and laughed even harder. "Aww what's the matter kit? Embarrassed?" he needled goodnaturedly, crossing his arms over his chest.

Garrett glared at the burly tom then ignored them both and concentrated on his work.

"I think he was just too embarrassed by the fact she had complimented his…figure...she found it hot," Jake snickered.

The two older toms laughed at the image but weren't laughing at the now totally pissed off teen. His ears were turning red and his tail twitched erratically. Fury made him hiss, "Fuck the both of you…"

Chance continued to smile but didn't laugh anymore and pointed a warning finger at the teen, "watch your language kit and don't take our comments so hard, we've all been there, trust me." He reached out and ruffled Garrett's hair briefly. The teen rolled his eyes in annoyance and slicked his hair back again.

Jake wiped a tear from his eye and calmed himself. "Okay, we'll stop razzing you...don't get your tail in a knot over it," he said, patting the kit's shoulder.

Huffing, Garrett let it go. They really weren't being mean so he said nothing more and went about fixing Rebecca's father's car.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

On the day of the art exhibit, Chance parked the car in the school parking lot and the three toms climbed out. Garrett was very nervous as he watched kits and parents entering the school ahead of them. Matthew had called and said he couldn't make it which made Garrett sad but at least his two new friends were at his side making this a little easier to handle.

Jake noticed his tension and patted him encouragingly on the shoulder. "Hey, chill, you'll do fine and I'm certain everyone will like your work."

Garrett tried to smile a little and relax. Taking a deep breath he lead the way into the school and down a hallway, following the crowd to the auditorium.

Chance asked, "so where are you supposed to put your drawing?"

"We turn our drawings over to Rebecca who will enter them at the judging table then hang them in the area designated for our school. A little while after that, the judging will begin," Garrett told him.

Jake placed his hands behind his back. "So does this mean we can see your drawing now?" he asked innocently.

Garrett snorted and shook his head. "You'll see it when it's hung up on the wall."

Jake and Chance groaned in disappointed unison causing Garrett to roll his eyes in amusement.

As they arrived at the auditorium door they could hear a voice singing. Garrett raised an eyebrow but shrugged it off. He turned around, suddenly and made the pair behind him halt before going through the doors.

"Okay before we go in, I warn you both...do not... I repeat do not...embarrass me, please!"

Chance and Jake gave each other a significant and amused glance before turning back to Garrett.

"Wouldn't dream of it," Chance answered, giving him a toothy smile.

Garrett glared at them. "Embarrass me and I'll kill you both," he promised, in a huff.

Jake and Chance acted like they had halos over their heads. He gave up and turned to push the doors open, muttering, "God kill me," under his breath.

As the three entered, he found his club members huddled near Rebecca. They saw him and smiled, their parents stood nearby. The competing school stood across the room from them with their parents. The auditorium was fairly crowded and noisy with people chattering.

As Garrett waited to turn his work over to Rebecca and nodded at his fellow club members, someone hugged him from behind, startling him.

"GARRETT! I'm so glad you could make it," a feminine voice cried out happily.

Garrett turned his head and was surprised to find it was Molly. "Uh...hi Molly." He still wasn't used to being touched so much. Chance and Jake noted his discomfort, but merely smiled and said nothing.

Molly released him and smiled brightly. "Were doing karaoke...wanna try it?"

Garrett laid his ears flat in fear. "Uh... no... thanks... I'm good," he said quickly, smiling nervously.

Molly's expression fell. "Oh, but you have such a lovely voice. Please give us a song," she begged, giving him kitten eyes.

Jake and Chance were hard put not to snicker at Garrett's discomfort, totally amused by the teen's situation.

"Please Molly, you know I have problems being around a crowd," he pleaded, urgently.

She could see he was really terrified and sighed in defeat as well as a little guilt. "I'm sorry, I kinda forgot with the excitement and all. I won't force you." She shook her head. "Don't worry about it right now...there's always the talent show later." She gave him a sunny smile which he returned hesitantly.

Chance and Jake went to find seats while Molly told Garrett, she'd see him later and left him to finally move toward Rebecca. Sighing in relief, he hurried forward to the desk Rebecca was accepting people's work. He seemed to be the last to do so. When he approached she was writing something on a form.

"Hey Rei," he called, trying for a cheerfulness he didn't feel.

Rebecca looked up and smiled brightly. "Garrett, I'm so glad you could make it!" she stood up to greet him and noticed the yellow folder in his paws. "Is that it?" she asked excitedly.

Garrett nodded and handed her the folder. "remember, I don't want anyone seeing it until it's hung up...okay?" He asked nervously.

Rebecca nodded, "You can count on me. I won't spoil the surprise." She looked around making sure no one was near and opened the folder. She gasped when she viewed the drawing.

"Oh…my…god…this is…just purely amazing!" she gushed. Garrett blushed at her compliment, "I see you used copic markers," she commented, professionally, still staring at the picture with real pleasure.

He blinked at her in surprise. "You can tell?"

Looking up and smiling brightly at him, she nodded. "Oh sure, I can tell by the texture which makes it different from regular markers. This is great work, Garrett. Very well thought out and I see you used the last name of one of my favorite Japanese singers."

Garrett nodded, "Yeah, the idea came to me from one of those songs you made me sing."

She giggled, "good to know...well I better enter all these at the judging table, see you later."

"Cool." He watched her list his picture on a form then gather the entries and head off across the room. Sighing, he turned away to search for Jake and Chance and spotted them near the back. He was about to walk toward them when someone grabbed his arm.

"Hey buddy!" It was Taylor smiling as bright as Molly had.

'What is with these people's need to touch me?' he wondered. "Uh...hi guys," he said, seeing Daniel and John sitting behind Taylor.

John leaned forward and lowered his voice conspiratorially and asked, "so...tell us...what's this super secret drawing Molly told us about?"

"Sorry, it's a secret," Garrett said, shaking his head, amused. All of them frowned at him in dismay.

"What? Not even your club members can know about it?" Taylor asked in surprise.

"Sorry, but, no."

"Aww come on…you can tell us, please?" Taylor begged. "Pleeeeeeease..." the twins voice sang out too.

Garrett sighed and looked put upon. He glanced over at Jake and Chance and saw they had taken seats not far way and were snickering at his predicament along with a few of the parents watching. He couldn't move because Taylor was still holding his arm.

Sighing, he said, "If I tell you guys, will you let me go?" They all nodded quickly.

Garrett paused for a second then took a small breath and said in perfect French, "C'est un dessin de moi et Jake avec le casque sur avec entourer de musique nous et portaient fait le maquereau hors les vêtements d'éloge." The toms gawped at him in complete bewilderment and surprise.

"What the heck did you say and I didn't know you could speak another language that well?" Taylor stuttered in amazement.

"I said I would tell you but I didn't say it would be in English," Garrett smirked. "And there's a lot you don't know about me."

The twins crossed their arms over their chests and pouted. "That's not fair!" They said in unison.

Garrett scoffed, "A deal's a deal, now if you don't mind I need to get to my seat." Taylor groaned but let go of his arm. "Don't worry you guys will see it when they hang it up." He grinned in triumph.

"But that's an hour away!" John whined.

Garrett snorted. "Tough." Then walked away to take a seat between Jake and Chance.

"Nicely handled. Didn't know you could speak French so well either," Chance said casually, having heard the whole altercation.

Garrett blushed and said nothing, focusing his attention to the stage where all the pictures were being set up on easels. He crossed his arms over his chest and sat tensely.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

When the show was over and they made their farewells to his friends, Garrett was smiling happily as was Chance who was patting the teen's shoulder in pleased triumph. Jake walked beside them grinning from ear to ear.

"First place! On your first competition...I'm really proud of ya kit." Chance gushed with pleasure. Garrett blushed at the tabby's exuberance.

"I didn't think I would win first place," he said, shyly, pleased with his success. His framed drawing in his paws with a big blue ribbon affixed to it and three comment cards from the judges.

The three climbed into the car and buckled up. Before Chance could drive off, Jake shouted, "This calls for a celebration!"

"What?" Garrett asked confused.

"Pizza!" Jake singsonged.

"Oh yeah, definitely, buddy. You have the right idea," Chance cheered, driving out of the parking lot.

"Wow! Really?" Garrett asked.

Jake nodded, "Yep from Daddy Johns."

Garrett's ears perked up. "My favorite pizza place!" he cheered, beaming with excitement.

"You betcha!" Chance grinned.

Garrett's tail twitched with excitement. "You guys are the best!" he said, happily with a smile that could put Rebecca's to shame.

Jake brought out his cell phone and called the pizza place.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Garrett flopped on his bed pleasantly replete from all the pizza he'd eaten. What a cool evening it had been. He stared up at his ceiling and smiled. 'Wow, I won my first contest, I can't believe it!'

He thought for a moment then rolled off his bed and got to his knees so he could pull a big metal box from under the bed. Opening it, he stared at its contents. Inside was a collection of keepsakes from his past; pictures of his parents, of himself when young, and one special one of him with his parents. He pulled out two gold rings that had inscriptions on them.

One had his mother's name 'Lisa' on it and the other his father, 'Jeff'. He read their names over and over again then sighed, putting them back in the box. With a faint smile on his face, he folded the edges of the drawing with its attached ribbon and cards, then carefully placed it too in the box.

Closing it, he murmured, "another great memory to cherish." He sighed. 'I so miss you guys but you taught me to never grieve too long so it wouldn't hurt me inside and I've tried to do that,' he said to them in his mind. He slipped the box back under his bed, shucked his clothes off, putting his pajama bottoms on then slipped under the covers. He closed his eyes and drifted off into peaceful slumber.

**Well so far so good, I envy Garrett being homeschooled sucks T_T but thank you ulyferal for helping me :)**


	11. Chapter 11: Trust

**ANOTHER SIDE****  
**  
Chapter 11: Trust

Garrett was flipping pancakes for breakfast while Jake was reading the newspaper, already eating some finished pancakes when Chance stepped into the kitchen, dressed in his coveralls.

"Mmm smells good in here," he commented, sniffing the air. The teen gave a warm smile over his shoulder.

"Help yourself," Garrett pointed to three cakes already made.

"Don't mind if I do, thanks kiddo," Chance said cheekily as he filled his plate.

After they finished eating and cleaning up the kitchen, the three males went downstairs to the garage to begin their work day. It was Saturday so Garrett didn't have school.

Chance opened the bay doors while Jake unlocked the side door. Having nothing to do yet, Garrett sat on a stool beside the work bench thumbing through a train magazine.

"So..Garrett, when do you think we'll be able to meet this Matthew of yours?" Chance asked casually.

"Tonight when he picks us up to go to the restaurant he's taking us to after closing tonight," Garrett said. "He felt bad about not being able to attend my art show so wanted to make up for it by taking us all out to dinner.

"Hey, cool. That's very generous of him," Chance said, smiling broadly.

"He really didn't have to do this, though. It wasn't his fault that his job required he defend a rape victim," Jake said, quietly.

"He's knows but still wants to do this and I couldn't say no," the teen said, shrugging.

Jake just sighed at that and said no more about it as their first job came into the yard. They were kept busy for most of the day. By the time closing came, they were tired and dirty. They had just enough time to go shower and change before Matthew arrived.

The adults let the teen first in the shower. He sailed past them with a towel around his waist when he was through and went to his room, shutting the door. He went to his closet and browsed through his hanging clothes. He finally settled on a pair of faded jeans with a non-long sleeved plaid green button up shirt, with a nice pair of brown hiking boots.

Dressed to go out, he left his room and walked to the living room. He was surprised to see Chance and Jake already waiting for him. 'Geez they're fast.' Then he saw his guardian, Matthew was there too. He smiled widely as he hurried across the floor to join them.

Matthew smiled sunnily at the teen as he approached. "Well, don't you look snazzy, Garrett. It's amazing how much you look like your father," he said, warmly.

Garrett blushed at the compliment and studied his guardian. Matthew was dressed a bit more casually than the teen was used to seeing. Instead of his normal suit, he now wore a flannel, long sleeved, shirt, black dress pants, and his usual black oxford shoes.

Glancing over at the other two adults, he noted Jake wore a dark blue polo shirt with faded jeans similar to his, and white converse shoes and Chance wore an opened up red plaid shirt revealing a gray shirt under it with a pair of plain blue jeans and black shoes.

"So, we ready to go?" Jake asked.

"I am," Garrett chirped, happily.

Matthew smiled at his excitement. "Well then, let's be off. I have plenty of room in my car for everyone."

Chance lead the way down the stairs, Matthew and Garrett followed with Jake bringing up the rear and locking the outside door behind them.

They piled into the nice looking dark sedan and soon they were cruising down the road toward downtown.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

"From everything Garrett has told me, you two have done a great job of taking care of him. That pleases me greatly," Matthew said as they were sitting and eating at a very nice upscale restaurant.

Chance set his drink down to respond. "You're welcome. We like him a lot, he's no trouble to care for, and he's an amazing cook," he said, smiling.

Jake nodded in agreement. "It's really nice to have someone to talk with that loves the same things I do, not to mention, he's not too shabby bad at karate." He chuckled. Garrett gave him a small glare remembering the times Jake wiped the floor with him because of his cockiness. "He reminds me of myself when I was his age," Jake added, winking at the teen.

Garrett couldn't hold back the snort and sticking out his tongue at the cinnamon tom letting him know what he thought about the comment the red tom had made.

That amused Matthew as he picked up his drink and took a sip. "I'm very glad to hear that you three get along so well. It's good for Garrett to finally have someone around and not be alone any longer." Turning toward the teen, he asked, "how have you been, truly, Garrett...school alright?

Garrett swallowed the last of his drink and nodded. "I'm really happy and the guys have been great. School's okay, especially the art club, Jake talked me into joining. You know I won my first competition," he said, grinning proudly.

"I know, that's what I heard. I'm very proud of you. I'm just sorry I couldn't have been there to see you win," Matthew said, sadly. "I know your parents would have been just as proud and pleased as well."

"Really? Glad you think so," Garrett murmured, a little sad but glad Matthew felt his parents would have liked what he was doing now with his life.

There was a silence for a bit as everyone ate their delicious pasta meal.

As he finished his food, Chance sighed. "Great meal. Thanks for bringing us here, Matthew."

"I'm pleased you enjoyed it. This is my favorite place but I never seem to have much time to be here much any longer," Matthew said, regretfully.

"Job keeps you too busy, eh?" Jake asked.

The old tom just nodded as he finished his drink.

Chance looked over at Garrett and thought to let Matthew in on some of the antics that went on around the garage just so the old tom could see how they behaved with each other in case he still had any doubts.

"Hey, Garrett, did you tell Matthew about how you got oil all over Jake's face, two weeks ago," he smirked, goodnaturedly. Jake grumbled at that memory but Garrett chuckled.

"Oh my gosh that was soo hilarious! You should have seen his face Matt, it was like this…" he went on to regale his guardian about the incident.

The four continued chatting with Jake and Chance telling the other two about their lives as enforcers before coming to the garage.

Matthew was intrigued by the two's accomplishments both before and after they began working in the garage. He especially liked what he heard about how Garrett spent his time at the garage with them and that did more to ease his concerns about his charge living with the pair. He was very glad the teen was being cared for more properly than he'd been able to do. It helped that Garrett was so intelligent and self sufficient in the first place but now he wasn't lonely and had two, sort of brothers, to help guide and encourage him on the proper path in life.

"I'm happy you two happened to drop into my charge's life when you did. I didn't really like the idea of him being alone at that garage even if it was his wish to do it like his father had in the past. You've been a good influence on him and it shows. My only regret is my job preventing me from spending as much time as I wanted too with him," Matthew sighed.

"It's okay Matt. I understood how important your job was and I did chose to live at the garage. Don't feel guilty about it. Everything's been great and I'm happy," Garrett was quick to reassure him.

Matthew smiled warmly and gently ruffled the teen's hair affectionately. "You're just like your mother, kind and thoughtful. However, I want you to remember my original offer stands. If you change your mind or something happens, you can always stay with me."

"I know Matt, thank you," Garrett said, softly, smiling at the older tom.

Chance and Jake were both smiling quietly at the pair as they finished up their drinks. Chance glanced at his watch and whistled in surprise.

"Whoa! It's nearly ten-thirty."

Matthew blinked in surprise then looked at his own watch. "Well, my goodness, I never realized how late it was getting. I need to head home or my wife will be worried or mad, depending how she's feeling at the moment," he chuckled at the thought.

Jake laughed, "Well we wouldn't want that now would we?"

Garrett sighed in dismay, unhappy that his time with Matthew had to end. It was just so rare for them to get time together.

The older Persian tom gave a chuckle as he reached over and scratched behind he teen's ears. "Aw, don't worry Garrett, we'll do this again as soon as possible, I promise."

After paying their bill, the four headed to Matt's car and climbed in. In no time they were heading back to the salvage yard.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Garrett stretched his arms above his head and sighed. "Wow, I'm stuffed."

"I don't doubt it. That was a quarter pound of stead and a full plate of pasta you put away there," Jake chuckled.

Garrett smirked as he licked his lips. "Yeah, but it was soo good. I adore Italian food."

Chance and Matthew had followed the other two up the stairs to their apartment. Matt was hiding something behind his back, a huge smile on his face.

"Garrett I got something special for you for winning your first competition," he said, bringing forth a large bag from behind him and offering it to Garrett.

The teens eyes grew wide as he took it from the older tom. "Oh Matt, you didn't have to do that."

"Yes I did. You deserve it."

Still shaking his head, Garrett opened it and inside was a wide yellow box with the initials MTH inside a white circle with a blue outer line on its lid. His eyes widened as he recognized the logo. It belonged to Mike's Train House.

Handing the empty bag to Jake, he set the slightly heavy box down on the coffee table. Opening the lid, he pulled a square block of Styrofoam and opened the top half of it. Gasping, he stared in amazement at what lay before his eyes. It was a black MP15AC switcher diesel that had Megakat City Railway embossed on it in bold, white letters.

"Oh…my…Matthew you shouldn't have," Garrett choked out, staring over at Matthew with near tears of joy in his eyes.

Matthew just beamed back at him, pleased the teen loved his gift. "I know how much you liked trains so went to a hobby shop to find you something truly special. This was the last one on the shelf, hidden behind some tank car I was looking at. I knew then I'd found the perfect gift."

Garrett just shook his head in amazement and returned his gaze to the cool diesel. Chance came close to study the train for himself. The teen had pulled it gently out of its protective foam and was looking it over.

"So what kind of diesel is it?" Chance asked.

"It's a MP15AC switcher diesel. It became obsolete years ago after they switched them out for SD40's for their better reliability and lower maintenance costs," Garrett explained, still staring at the engine in shock.

Chance shook his head in surprise. "Wow, I didn't know that."

Matthew laughed. "Like father like son."

Garrett went to Matthew and hugged him tightly, still holding the train. "Thank you so much!" The older tom smiled at the teen, Jake and Chance couldn't help but join in to share this happy moment with them.

Releasing Matthew, Garrett studied his diesel again. "I wish I had some track to set this up on so I can run it!" he mused.

"Your father had a bunch of track, what happened to it?" Matthew asked.

Garrett placed the train back in its box. "All of it is in a box in my closet, thanks for reminding me. I'll have to get some of it out later."

Matthew smiled and nodded. "Well I hope you have fun with it and I'm glad you liked it." He looked at his watch. "Well I'm afraid I have to go. I had a lot of fun tonight and I hope we'll be able to do this again soon."

Both Chance and Jake shook the old tom's paw in turn and wishing him a good night, also agreeing meeting again would be a great idea. After giving Garrett a last hug, Matthew was down the stairs with Jake following to lock up.

Only a few minutes later, they heard the car leaving the yard and gate clanking as Jake pulled it closed for the night. and nodded. "I agree we should."  
**  
**~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Though very late, Garrett couldn't resist setting up his track then watching his new diesel pull a few freight cars around. A knock interrupted his fun. He sighed and stopped the train so the door wouldn't hit it.

Chance cracked the door open and peered in. "I thought I heard a train," he grinned, eagerly. "So, how's it running?" He stepped gingerly in the room, avoiding the track as he moved to a cleared area of floor where he could squat down and see the whole thing more closely.

Garrett smiled brightly. "It's going great but it would look even cooler if I could run it on this killer layout back at my old house!"

Chance raised an eyebrow. "Layout?"

Garrett nodded. "Yeah, me and my Dad built this neat layout that looks like a real city and countryside in a spare room of our old house. Dude it's HUGE! And it's scale meaning it's very accurate. It's got all these twist's and turns and tunnels and even a lake...I wish you could have seen it." He sighed, remembering how much fun it was running trains with his father when he was real little.

Chance chuckled. "Well whatya waiting for? Fire it up!"

Garrett laughed and quickly pressed a button on his remote for the train to start moving again. They watched it go around for awhile, the air filling with the sounds of it moving on the track, plus cool sound effects of the crew talking and a whistle going off as it disappeared under the bed and back out again.

Another knock was heard on the door but this time it didn't open carefully and managed to knock a few cars off the track. Jake stared down at the mess he'd created, embarrassed.

"Jaaaake...you destroyed thousands of dollars worth of mixed freight! Now the people of Garrett's Room City will go a day without food and supplies!" Garrett yelled, pretending to be mad at the tom.

Chance smirked and also pretended as he said, annoyed, "yeah, way to go there, buddy. Those boots I ordered will never get here now." He pretend sulked, crossing his arms over his chest, barely able to contain his laughter at the look on his best friend's face.

Though chagrined at causing a mini-disaster, Jake could only shake his head at the two's behavior. He leaned down and picked up the cars he accidentally kicked over and looked them over for damage. "I think they'll live besides it's really late and 'They' should be in bed," he said pointedly, an eyebrow raised in admonition.

Garrett and Chance raised an eyebrow and turned together to look at Garrett's wall clock with a steam engine on it. It read one forty-five in the morning. They lowered their ears and had equal looks of embarrassment.

"Oops." They said.

Jake chuckled. "Yeah, oops is right so start wrapping this up kiddo and get to bed," Jake said, amused, as he placed the two cars on Garrett's bed.

"You're right, see you tomorrow...uh...I mean later today," Garrett amended then yawned hugely.

Chance stood up and stretched. "Well it was fun hanging with ya kit and really neat watching your diesel run around. I can see why you like them." He ruffled the teen's hair as was starting to be a habit for the two toms.

Sighing, the teen fixed his hair again and chuckled. "I did too. I should get some of my engines out of my trunk in the closet to run later."

"Cool idea...can't wait! See you later in the day," Chance said, grinning excitedly as he headed out the door followed by Jake.

"Good night, sleep tight," Jake said in parting, then closed the door.

Garrett picked up his new diesel and cars and placed them on his desk for him to put up later. Yawning again, he prepared for bed, putting on his pj bottoms, pulling his shirt off and tossing it onto the chair before sliding into his bed. He was asleep within moments, a smile still on his lips.

**hmm I wonder where this will go :)**


	12. Chapter 12: Marching orders

ANOTHER SIDE

Chapter 12: Marching orders.

Garrett groaned in pain as he was lay on the padded floor of the workout room.

Jake was dusting off his paws, a grim look on his face. "You can't keep charging out of control, like that Garrett. An opponent can easily use that against you and knock you on your tail like I did. You must stay calm and in control."

The teen slowly got to his feet clutching his aching shoulder. He glared at Jake with annoyance. With a look of determination, he got back into his battle stance with Jake doing the same. They began to spar again. Garrett stayed focused on the way Jake moved, learning the other tom's method of throws and punches as he kept blocking to keep from being tossed again.

Chance watched the whole thing as he lifted weights nearby. He was impressed by how much progress the teen had made since they'd begun training him. He didn't give up easily despite the number of times he kissed the mat and he was a quickly learner.

Finally, Jake got through Garrett's block and wham, down the teen went to the ground once more. He lay there groaning in pain for a moment.

"You're still losing your cool which ruins your focus, Garrett," Jake warned, crossing his arms over his chest.

Garrett glared at the cinnamon tom. "I hate you…" he hissed quietly.

Jake just laughed and offered the teen a paw up. "Hey this is part of it, I went through the same thing during training." Garrett accepted his paw and got to his feet. Jake flexed his paws. "Let's take a break then we'll head out to the obstacle course." Garrett reluctantly nodded and sat on a bench rubbing his sore arm. The three made an obstacle course a week ago to help keep them in shape and help train Garrett for his future in the enforcers.

Jake was pleased at how well the teen didn't let being knocked on his tail get him down. Though he might lose his temper a bit, he never stopped trying to improve himself. 'The kit's determined, I'll give him that," Jake mused.

Garrett rubbed the side of his temples; a small headache forming from the falls he'd taken. 'Wow, and here I thought I was good but I'm just a beginner against Jake. How the hell do I compete with that? He's just gotta have a weak spot somewhere,' he grumbled to himself.

Chance was still lifting his weights and watching scaredy kat he laughed at his favorite cartoon screaming.

Jake rolled his eyes when he heard Chance laughed uproariously at the cartoon, Scaredy Kat, he was watching as he lifted weights. He wiped sweat off his face with a towel and noticed Garrett seemed awfully deep in thought.

"You alright?" Jake asked with a little concern.

Garrett snorted and glanced over at Jake, a small smile tugging on his lips. I've been better," he admitted.

Jake laughed, patting the kit's affectionately. "It may hurt now but trust me, it'll pay off in the end."

Warmed by the supporting words, Garrett nodded and took a sip of water sitting on the bench next to him.

"So what was it like being in the enforcers… excluding the fact you got canned, the paperwork, and dealing with assholes," he asked.

Chance dropped his weights and cracked his knuckles. "Well despite us 'getting canned' and all that, it had to be one of the best period in my life," Chance admitted, smiling at the memories.

Jake smiled, "Yea mine too." Garrett perked his ears with interest. "How so?"

Chance took a breath and looked up and exhaled. "Well I was twenty-one when I joined, scored high marks in the academy then aced the pilot training course, making me the youngest pilot to do so in years," he said with pride.

The teen's eyes went wide in amazement.

"And that's how I met Jake. He was also top in his class and was certified as the top sharp shooter on the force. It didn't hurt that he was a genius as well. Anyway, we we're paired as a fighter team when we finished training." Jake blushed a little at being called a genius.

'Wow! Seems these two had a rather exciting life before their banishment,' Garrett thought.

"It helped that the two of us hit it off really well and became fast friends which made our team more cohesive and unstoppable," Chance said, grinning.

Jake, however, frowned. "Yea, we were hot alright and that's what made Feral unhappy as we outshone him easily. Other teams were also a bit jealous of our skills and took to calling us hot shots. Feral took that up and began calling us 'reckless hot shots.' Just because we didn't follow all the rules to the letter and could think for ourselves, it made us unpopular with high command. It didn't matter how many lives we saved just how many rules we broke to them," he said sourly.

"Well you can't make an omelet without breaking a few eggs you know…" Chance said, shrugging.

"That's one way of putting it," Garrett snorted, amused.

The two toms chuckled.

"The two of us could go through any obstacle and take down any villain that showed their ugly face in Megakat City. With Chance's ace flying and my marksmanship, we blazed our way up the ranks. The two of us were the youngest to ever reach the rank of 1st Lieutenant Aerial Wing at the age of twenty-five."

Chance leaned against the wall, arms behind his head, "Yea…I can't believe we got sent here at all. Most that get into trouble get their pay docked or receive an Article 15 for bad conduct or both but never kicked out for it. We were valuable. The Enforcers spent a lot of time and money on our training and to throw that all away because Feral felt out shined by us was crazy, but he's in command and we had no recourse but to accept it."

Garrett noticed Jake lowered his ears in humiliation and anger, which made the teen more than a little angry for the tom's sake. "Yeah, I couldn't believe it either when I saw it on the news. It was just so wrong but it seemed no one was willing to stand up to Feral to come to your aid which showed how much clout the Commander holds. Everyone has a right to be heard in a court of law, even the military, and your rights were violated," Garrett commented, angrily. Then he paused, eyeing the two gravely.

"What makes this worse to my mind is, it's an Enforcers duty to protect the Katizens of this city from harm, regardless if they are an Enforcer or a simple person on the street. Their one goal is to protect and to serve, there is no in between. No Enforcer should ever forget that!" He said sternly.

Jake and Chance eyed the teen with respect, Garrett had a very firm grip on what was wrong and right in life which was refreshing to see in one so young.

Jake smiled and patted the teen's shoulder. "Spoken like a true enforcer." Garrett blushed with pride at the supporting words.

They left the workout room for the apartment and made themselves lunch. While they ate, Chance and Jake regaled Garrett with their tales of their time in the Enforcers.

Garrett found himself laughing hard when Chance related a time when he had put dry ice in the locker room toilet and caused an evacuation of near naked toms out into the busy corridor as everyone thought there was a fire.

He learned Jake was very shy and didn't interact with anyone much until Chance came along and soon he had many friends thanks to his new friend's outgoing and funny ways. He even could be accused of having pulled a prank or two of his own.

In a lighter mood, rested and rehydrated, the three went to their rooms to change. Time for the obstacle course. Chance's favorite attire was a pair of army pants and a gray tank top with combat boots. Jake wore nearly the same outfit except his shirt was black. Garrett opted for a pair of arctic cargo pants, old combat boots Jake gave him, and a white t-shirt with a skull covered in ice and a whole bunch of urban designs on it.

This was Garrett's first time using the course and he was determined to do his best against the more experienced pair. Chance and Jake went ahead to do the course without him while he watched in awe. The one thing that grabbed his attention and not in a good way, was the pool of water at the base of a mountain of scrap. The object was to swing across with a rope, which was suspended from a crane, and land on the opposite side without falling into the water.

'Well, I just have to get across without falling in is all,' he firmly told himself. He returned his attention to the pair who were on the last stretch of the course.

Chance got the lead at the last minute and past the finish line ahead of Jake. Once he caught his breath he did a fist pump in the air. "Yes! I've still got it! He cheered, grinning from ear to ear as Jake arrived beside him a moment later, panting.

The smaller tom snorted at Chance's antics. "You just got lucky, is all," he said, wiping the sweat from his brow.

Garrett walked up to them and smiled. "That was an amazing run! You guys did great!"

Chance chuckled. "Thanks kit, now let's see how well you do," he said smugly.

Garrett scratched the back of his neck nervously but smiled with assurance he certainly didn't feel. Jake walked towards three lawn chairs they'd brought out and pulled a stopwatch from his pant's pocket and grabbed a bottle of water from a cooler next to the chairs.

"The course is safe, don't worry. You'll do a timed course while me and Chance rest for a bit, that alright?" he asked then took a sip of his water.

Garrett nodded. "Sure that's fine." He insured his boots were on tight then jogged to the start of the course.

The two adults took a seat and had a perfect view of the course.

"Alright you ready?" Jake yelled out to the teen, Garrett gave a thumbs up.

"Go!" Jake shouted pressing the button on the watch at the same time.

Garrett sprinted forward then leaped to the first bar of the tall monkey bars, climbing quickly upward then across the ladder spanning over the ground to the other end and leaping down, going at a pretty good clip so far. Sprinting across the ground without wasting a move, he ran the tire course without a misstep before running for the crane Once he made it threw he headed towards the crane and scrap heap. On his way, he stumbled and began to fall but landed on one hand, did a dodge roll to his feet again and kept going.

That move impressed Jake and Chance, a great recovery that didn't cost him time according to the watch, Jake glanced at. It also showed he was making very good time.

Garrett made it to the large pile of scrap and began climbing; his experience in mountain climbing making it no challenge. Once at the top, he grabbed the rope but paused as he stared down at the large pool of water.

Swallowing, he held the rope tightly and pushed off strongly. As his swing brought him to the edge of the pool, he let go and landed just at the edge of the water. Grinning in relief, he continued on to where an iron pole waited for his next hurdle.

Slamming the end of the rod into the ground, he used it to leap up and over a large scrap heap, stumbling only a little on landing then racing toward the finish line.

Jake pressed the stopwatch as soon as the teen crossed the line. Smiling at the results, he walked over to the recovering teen with a bottle of water.

"Way to go! An excellent time of five minutes and thirty-seven seconds," he congratulated Garrett, patting him on his sweaty back then handing the teen the bottle.

Garrett grinned from ear to ear as he caught his breath and accepted the bottle. "Only one minute shy of beating you guy's record...fantastic." He drank down the water to ease his parched throat.

Chance grinned proudly at the teen but before he could add his own congratulations, his ears pricked up to the sound of a phone vibrating.

Garrett realized a second later that it was his phone and pulled it out of his pants. The screen ID told him it was Taylor but he'd missed the call. Shaking his head, he put the phone away and headed for a chair to sit down and rest a bit while he finished his water. Only minutes later, his phone vibrated again. Sighing, he pulled it out once more and noted he'd gotten a text message.

It read: 'Hey dude! What's up?'

Garrett typed back, 'Training with Jake and Chance...you?'

Chance noticed what Garrett was doing and that sparked an idea in his brain. "Hey Garrett?"

Garrett looked up at Chance. "Yea?"

"Have you ever thought of inviting one of your friends over?" the tabby asked.

Garrett gaped at Chance in surprise. "Uh…no I haven't but that's because this place isn't exactly inviting," he said, shrugging.

Chance raised an eyebrow at this. "Alright, I can understand that so what about going to their house?" he asked, cocking his head to the side a little.

Garrett sighed. "I usually don't have time because of working in the garage," he explained patiently. "It isn't like they haven't asked. Just last week John and Daniel asked all the guys to come over to play video games but it was a Wednesday and I had work waiting for me. I do need to make a living you know." He looked past Chance and saw Jake warming up to do the course again, oblivious to Chance and he's conversation.

"Aww come on kit, you work hard at least six days a week. I know you need to work but your needs aren't much and we're here now so you don't need to miss making time being with your friends. You're still a teen and friendship now is very important toward your adulthood. Those friends can come in handy later in life, trust me. So, there's no reason you can't take a break during the week and use your Sunday off to be with them," Chance urged. "And don't forget, you did promise Jake you would try for a more social life."

Closing his eyes, Garrett sighed inwardly. Chewing his bottom lip he thought about what Chance had said and knew the older tom was right...he did need to spread his wings a little. It was a bad thing that he'd never been to anyone's home before except Matthew's. His habit when his dad was alive was to help in the garage, never seeking any other contact outside his home. That had to stop.

"Okay, I now you're right but its going to be hard doing it. I've just been a homebody and that's hard to break," he admitted.

Chance patted the teen's shoulder. "I understand but you've made good progress so far by joining that club now step out a little further. I know you can do it. Just try, that's all we ask," the big tabby said encouragingly.

Garrett nodded then his phone vibrated again. He flipped it opened and read the text. 'Dude that's awesome...You'll be Mr. Universe in no time ...' Garrett blushed a little at Taylor's excited message.

Chance craned his neck to read the text and snickered, "Sounds like you've got an admirer kiddo."

The teen gave the adult an irritated look. "Don't you have a course to run?" he replied texting Taylor 'Thanks' then closing his phone.

"Chill kit I'm just messing with ya." Chance patted Garrett's head.

"Whatever…" he grumbled a little.

"Come on guys I'm dying of old age here!" Jake yelled, waving at the two, impatiently.

They chuckled.

"Yea, yea buddy were coming," Chance hollared back, took a quick sip of water and set his bottle down. "Ready kit?"

Garrett smirked at the burly tabby, determination on his face. "You know it!"

The two jogged over to Jake and continued their training day. By the end of it, Garrett was finally getting the hang of it; not landing in the pool once, which pleased him immensely. The sun was going down when they knocked off and headed inside to eat dinner.

Garrett was sore all over, his muscles screaming at him but he kept moving so they wouldn't stiffen. The two ex-enforcers warned him he would have to do workout at that level everyday before it would stop hurting and just be strong muscles instead. All he could do was groan.

Finally upstairs, he flopped down on the couch and sighed. Jake had made for the fridge in the kitchen and tossed Chance a can of milk looking almost as fresh as they started the day with. Garrett could only shake his head. Well that only made sense as they'd been doing this sort of thing for years and were used to it. Hopefully, I soon will be too.

He leaned down and untied his boots, kicking them off and sighing as his feet felt the cooler air. A paw holding a can of milk in front of him interrupted his thoughts. It was Jake, "Thirsty?" Garrett nodded and took the can from the slim tom.

"You did good today kiddo." Jake complimented the teen then took a seat next to him.

Garrett blushed a little and poked a hole in the can with his claws. "Thanks."

Chance took a sip of his milk and also smiled. "If you keep this up, you'll be pulling in the females in no time." Garrett blushed and looked away embarrassed.

"Too late." Jake snickered remembering when Rebecca had come by.

Garrett glared at the cinnamon tom knowing what incident Jake was remembering.

"Just kidding." Jake quickly replied, smirking. "How about we order pizza? I'm not in the mood to cook."

"Great idea," Chance said, going for the phone and calling in an order.

Garrett grabbed the remote and turned on the TV but couldn't find anything of interest until Jake told him to stop.

"It's my favorite show, David litterbin!" Jake said with excitement.

Garrett left the station on but he couldn't help but notice Chance wasn't as enthused about the show. 'Oh well, can't please everyone and I've not seen this program before,' he thought, staring at the screen with Jake. Chance just snorted and pulled out a magazine to read instead.

The show turned out to be both interesting and funny. He laughed at some of the truly hilarious jokes. Garrett had never watched these kinda comedies since Scaredy Kat or CSI were the shows usually on. But this show he kinda liked much to Chance's disappointment.

Their dinner arrived and Chance went down to get it. He lay the boxes on the table before the other two. He pulled out several slices for himself then retreated to his seat and his magazine.

Garrett and Jake immediately attacked the boxes as they were ravenous. "I didn't think you'd enjoy something like this, Garrett," Jake said when a commercial came on and he began to eat his pizza with relish.

Garrett chuckled. "Neither did I, actually." He took a mega bite of his pizza just as the show returned. He perked his ears to listen.

Jake was really pleased the teen liked his favorite show, it made for an excellent bonding experience for the two of them. Chance may of not liked the show but was glad the kit was enjoying it.

With dinner and the show over, the three went to their rooms, took showers, then put on pjs to go and watch some more TV before bedtime. Garrett wore his usual dark green plaid bottoms with a loose gray shirt, Chance preferred boxer shorts and a gray tank top, while Jake wore black plaid bottoms and a loose white t-shirt.

They watched some scary movies for the next few hours. Chance and Jake looked comfortable and relaxed while poor Garrett was beginning to look like everything hurt, badly because every movement he made was accompanied by a groan of pain. He'd also began to lose interest in the TV and got drowsier and drowsier until he fell completely asleep.

The adults didn't notice until Garrett tilted and fell onto Jake's shoulder. Snorting, the slim tom smiled in tender amusement.

"Aww looks like we tuckered him out." He snaked his arm around the teen's shoulders to support him. Garrett started to snore a little but didn't wake up. Instead he began to purr in his sleep which the toms thought was just simply adorable.

Chance stared at the kitten and smiled as well. "That's kinda cute." Then an idea struck him. He opened a drawer of the side table beside him and pulled out a camera.

"What are you doing?" Jake asked then noticed the camera and gave Chance an irritated look. "Chance, don't."

Chance snickered. "Relax buddy, I'm just making memories for all of us to enjoy." He pressed the button and the camera flashed taking a snapshot of the two.

Jake blinked a few times to get rid of the glare from the camera flash, "You mean for you to enjoy?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Chance looked to the left out of the corner of his eyes smiling, acting innocent, "Maaaybe."

Jake shook his head. "He's gonna kill you, you know?" Chance put the camera away then sat back down. "He'll get over it, but ya gotta admit, that is kinda cute." He scratched the back of the kit's ears.

"Yea he is." Jake admitted, smiling.

Garrett's tail twitched with delight from the petting and continued purring.

Chance chuckled, "He's such a kitten…in a good way."

"We better take him to bed, buddy." Jake looked down at the sleeping teen, rubbing his shoulder.

Chance nodded and stood up, picking the teen up. It was a bit of a struggle as the teen was getting bigger and taller all the time, but he managed to carry him to the teen's bedroom and lay him on the bed, Jake had opened. The slim tom pulled the covers over Garrett then turned on the small fan he liked on. They left the room quietly, closing the door behind them.

Chance stretched, "I'm too tired to work on the jet tonight, buddy."

"Yeah, so am I, surprised to say. On night missed isn't going to set us back too much," Jake agreed, only a little down not getting back to his pet project.

Chance grinned in relief that Jake relented tonight as he was really tired and barely able to stand right now. "Thanks, Jake. Good night," he said, patting his friend on the shoulder before turning to his own room.

"Good night, Chance," Jake sighed, going into his room and closing the door. He had to admit he was too tired as well. They'd really worked out more than usual today. Slipping into bed, it wasn't long before he was fast asleep.


	13. Chapter 13: Discovery

ANOTHER SIDE

Chapter 13: Discovery

It was the following weekend, very late at night and Garrett was upstairs sleeping after another thorough workout but the two adults had other things to do this evening.

Chance wiped the sweat off his forehead as he admired the nearly completed jet before him. Jake and he had worked a miracle turning the bare skeleton of the Grumman F-14 Tomkat into this much sleeker and more powerful fighter jet. She wasn't painted yet but he could just imagine what she'd be like in the air. Not long ago, Jake had also found engines for it and not just any engines...these babies were a top of the line design which Jake tweaked into something with far more thrust capacity.

Staring at the gray-skinned bird, he couldn't help but smile in anticipation. He couldn't wait to take it into the air but he still wasn't that keen on being a vigilante though Jake was wearing him down about the idea.

"I have to say she's looking really good, Jake...better than any of those Enforcer jets we used to fly," he said, grinning.

Jake was in the pilot's seat working on the control panel but looked down at his friend and returned his grin. He was very proud of the work they'd done.

"That she does, buddy. I can't wait to see her in the air." After finishing his inspection, he climbed out of the cockpit and leaped to the floor with ease.

The two stepped back a ways to stare at the jet some more. All it needed now was a paint job, some wiring work, fueled (though where they would get that Chance wasn't certain), and armed.

Which reminded him. "So, Jake, what about the weapons...got any ideas?"

Jake grinned and pointed his thumb at a nearby desk and the stack of blueprints at one end of it. "You could say I have quite a few ideas already figured out...just waiting for the right parts from the yard to build them. Oh, glad you reminded me, there is something I want to show you. I've built a prototype and want to test it out with your help."

He motioned the sandy tom to follow him across the hangar to a long table with a tarp over it. Jake pulled the tarp off, revealing a pair of gauntlets, one larger then the other, along with some random ammunition that looked like it was meant to be used with it.

Jake picked the odd looking glove up and handed it to Chance. The tom took it rather leerily as he listened to his friend explain what it was.

"What you're holding is a weapon that we can use for paw to paw combat when we have to leave the jet to fight on the ground. I designed it for the right paw, so why don't you give it test try?" Jake smiled innocently at the larger tabby.

Chance frowned at him then turned his attention to the glove, inspecting it thoroughly. "Certainly has a lot of gadgets on it. Sure it won't electrocute me when I try to use it?"

Jake shook his head. "No...shouldn't... but it is a prototype..." he said slowly, shrugging.

His partner rolled his eyes at that statement but pulled the gauntlet on anyway. "Okay, how does it work?"

"The weapon's control is near the wrist, you simply choose a weapon make a fist and then squeeze to fire. I set up a test dummy for you." He pointed across the room.

Chance chuckled at the dummy that was a crude image of Feral. "Nice art work," he commented, laconically, then raised his right paw with the glove on it, followed Jake's instruction, and muttered "here we go" before firing at the target.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Upstairs in his room, Garrett tossed restlessly in his sleep. Blearily, he glanced at his clock and saw it was nearly two a.m..

'That's what I get from downing too many energy drinks,' he snorted, irritably at himself, sighing aloud, he slid out of bed and reluctantly got up. He slipped on a sleeveless shirt and headed to the kitchen.

Settling on some milk and a sleeping tablet, hoping they would help, he downed them then put his glass in the sink before heading back to his room. As he passed Jake's room, he noticed the door was cracked open a little. Frowning, he paused and dared to peek in...no Jake. Surprised, he went to Chance's door and opened it...same thing, no tom in sight and the bed hadn't been slept in.

'They'd gone to bed when I had but, plainly, they hadn't actually gotten into bed. What gives?' he wondered.

He closed the door and scratched his chin, confused. "Okay, so where might they be? Gone out? No, they would have told me." Finding no answers only more questions, he proceeded to search their home, garage, and yard.

Nothing! They weren't watching late TV, the garage was silent and empty, and the yard was just as quiet...the tow truck and their sedan parked where they normally were. Even more confused and bewildered now, Garrett came back in from the yard, locked up then stared at the back of the garage.

"Could they actually be down there this late at night?" he muttered. Making for the back wall of the garage, he noticed two things; the rubber mat was off the manhole cover and Jake's security system was disabled. 'Okay, so they're in the bunker, but why at this hour?'

He lifted the lid and climbed down but paused partway at the point where he was still hidden from view. He leaned down and peered past where the tube ended and looked for the guys. Though the hangar was lit, no one seemed to be around.

Shaking his head, he finished climbing down. Searching the huge hangar space and checking the locker and workout rooms, he came up empty then suddenly a dull boom rang out, startling him.

"What the hell!" he gasped aloud. The sound had come from further into the underground base. Curious, he headed in that direction.

He'd not been in this section for quite a while but he really wasn't surprised the guys had gone exploring or that Jake had continued the repairs he'd started on the electrical systems with far greater skill so more of the place was lit up.

A long hall had several heavy doors along it. The room next to the one he'd just left was another hangar. This one, according to the blueprints of the place, was a repair hangar for jets while the one he used a lot was supposed to be a launch hangar. At the rear of the huge space was a set of sliding doors that allowed the finished jets to pass through to the launch hanger. Of course, he didn't know if the darn things were rusted shut after all these years because he'd never bothered to try them yet.

His ruminations ended when he arrived at the other hangar. The door was partly open which allowed him to peek in without being seen, his stocking feet making no noise.

He blinked in shock at what he spied straight ahead...a sleek looking jet, that still needed a paint job, stood there. 'Where the heck had that come from?'

Another boom, louder now that he was closer to the source, made him quickly turn and peer to the left. There were the guys and Chance was firing some kind of glove device at a practice dummy. Their backs were to him.

'Wow! Where did they get those and why all the secrecy? They've gone to a lot of trouble to get a jet in here and now making weapons. Just what are they up to?' He continued to watch them in puzzled confusion.

Not knowing they had an audience, Chance took another shot at the dummy. He pressed a button on the glove and squeezed to fire, immediately, out came three thin circular blades. They flashed across the intervening space in the blink of an eye and struck the dummy with enough force to nearly shred it to pieces.

"Crud!" he exclaimed then he and Jake walked up to the dummy to examine the damages. One of his shots had hit the thing right between its fake eyes. Chance whistled. "Dang, those things nearly went right through this."

Jake chuckled. "Told ya the last one was lethal."

"No kidding." Chance grunted using a lot of strength to pull one of the buzz-saw blades out of the dummy. "What do ya call it?" he asked, pointing at the glove device.

Jake shrugged. "The glovatrix?" he said, questioningly, not quite happy with the rather lame name.

"I like it!" Chance grinned, reluctantly taking the glovatrix off and carrying it back to the table.

'Okay, so its called that now,' Jake sighed mentally. "It's designed to take a beating," he explained, covering the table with the tarp again. "If you don't have any weapon's selected it doubles the power of your punch," he added.

"Wicked."

"I was planning on testing it myself...but figured, why not use you as the guinea pig so I could observe it in action," Jake said casually, a twinkle of amusement in his eyes.

Chance gave his partner a pained look. "Gee thanks, you're all heart," he snorted not really upset.. "But seriously, that kicks ass, can't wait to try it in action."

"Glad you like it but it still needs more testing done and I do need to build those other weapons for the jet before we can take it out. But those gloves will definitely come in handy when we take on some of those odd criminals that are showing up and getting around the Enforcers so easily," Jake said, with glee.

Chance couldn't help but be affected by his friend's enthusiasm to take out the bad guys themselves but he wasn't quite sold on the idea completely yet and he said as much to Jake.

"I'm still not completely comfortable about being a vigilante, Jake," he warned, crossing his arms across his chest and giving his friend a stern look.

"Oh, I know, but once this baby is in the air, you just might change your mind," the slim tom said, certainty in his voice, refusing to hear anything negative about the idea his heart was set on.

Chance could only shake his head at his friend's stubbornness. Deciding to drop the subject for now, he made for the jet where a compressed can of paint with sprayer attached was waiting. He picked the spray wand up and started the motor. He began working on one side of the jet as he partner joined him and began working on the other side with another spray can.

Garrett chose that moment to slip away and go back upstairs to his room. Flopping on his back, he pulled the covers up to his chin and stared up at the ceiling as he processed all that he had seen and heard in the hangar.

Jake's words about fighting the odd criminals that had begun appearing in the city rang in his mind. "Why does he feel they need to fight these guys? They're not Enforcers any longer. Perhaps they still can't get over not being in the air any longer and hunting the bad guys. From their records, they were an excellent team and always got their criminal. It stood to reason they would miss it but doing this...?

Garrett was with Chance. It just didn't seem right. Shaking his head at the enigma of Jake, he made the decision to spy on them for awhile and see where this went.

Pushing away the odd behavior of his guardians, Garrett rolled to his side and sought sleep again.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

"Betcha five bucks the trucker did it," Garrett said, elbows on his knees, resting his head on his upraised paws.

The other two on the couch merely grunted, their attention glued to the TV. They were watching an episode of CSI, as was becoming customary when there were no customers to service, and Garrett always made a guess as to who the current bad guy was.

Garrett smiled smugly watching the enforcer arrest the trucker who had run over the jogging she-kat. "I totally nailed that," he crowed, taking a sip of his soda.

Chance leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest. Giving the teen an unamused glare, he said, "it would be more polite if you didn't spoil our enjoyment of it, though."

Garrett chuckled and shook his head. "Can't help it! It's just too easy to guess once the evidence is revealed."

"I had figured out the culprit halfway through, Chance," Jake snickered. "Guess great minds think alike, eh?" He said, nudging Garrett while teasing his partner.

Garrett smirked back. "You know it!"

As the two shared a laugh, Chance just rolled his eyes and muttered, "geeks!"

After that work arrived and they set about fixing the few cars they got then it was quiet again. About an hour before they normally closed, they decided to just shut shop as it appeared no more work was coming their way.

As the evening was still nice with a small breeze and the sun going down, Garrett cast a longing look toward the obstacle course.

Jake noticed where his attention was and came up to the teen's side, drapping an arm over the young tom's shoulders. "Want to go a few laps?"

Garrett stared up at Jake and smiled, but shook his head. "Nah, I'm too tired today, we can do it another time." He thought they looked pretty tired from staying up so late last night and wondered how they managed to be so alert as they must be working down there nearly all the time for as much work as they'd gotten done. He wasn't about to tell them,, that he knew what they were up to.

But Jake shook his head. "You're gonna need constant training if you're to reach the level you need to be to enter the academy. Chance might not be up to doing some laps but I'm good. Let's do it."

Garrett gave him a small smile. "Okay, guess I can manage a couple of laps."

Removing his arm, Jake turned to head upstairs, pausing to yell to his partner, "hey, buddy, me and the squirt are gonna run a few laps on the obstacle course, want to join us?"

Garrett gave him an annoyed look at the nickname but let it go.

"Nah, my arms are killing me, but I'll watch," Chance said coming to their side while rubbing his arms to ease his discomfort.

"Okay, mind getting the cooler for us?" Jake asked as he made for the stairs with Garrett on his heels.

"Sure, sure...meet ya outside," Chance rumbled before disappearing from view.

Only a few minutes later, the two were changed into their workout clothes and headed outside. They passed Chance sitting comfortably in a lawn chair, a cooler by his feet.

Jake and Garrett stepped up to the starting line but before they took off, Garrett made a bet. "The loser makes dinner!"

Jake eyed the teen a moment then an evil smile crossed his lips, "it's a bet!" He looked over at Chance, "...call the mark!"

"Roger!" Chance waited until both were ready then called out, "ready, set, go!"

The pair exploded into a fast sprint for the monkey bars, Garrett taking the lead and reaching the bars first. In very little time, he was across and leaping down to run through the tire obstacle.

Jake was very close and growled to himself, "no way am I losing this round," picking up his pace.

Once they made it through the tires, the pair made for the scrap mountain with the rope swing and water hazard.

Still in the lead, Garrett shouted smugly over his shoulder, "get ready to have your tail whipped, Jake!"

The adult cinnamon tom was nearly on top of the teen when he growled, "I don't think so squirt!" He pushed himself faster and took a good one and a half foot lead over the teen up the salvage mountain.

Garrett was shocked when Jake lunged past him. 'Had he been holding back?' Shaking his head, Garrett pushed himself faster to catch up.

Despite his best effort, though, Jake still managed to grab the rope first and swing across the water, landing with ease on the ground past it.

The rope barely had time to swing back when Garrett grabbed hold of it and made his swing. However, to his horror, halfway through his swing the rope snapped in half sending him plunging toward the water, screaming all the way.

In that moment of free fall, everything seemed to slow down. He could see Jake grabbing the vaulting pole and preparing to catapult over the next pile of scrap metal then he was in the water. It closed over his head and was deep enough for him not to feel the bottom with his feet. That was when he panicked as water went up his nose and he became disoriented.

The water was churned up by his panic so he couldn't see which was up. It didn't help that he didn't know how to swim so he continued to thrash his arms and legs uselessly, his chest getting tighter with the need for air, as he slowly began to drown.

Chance had seen the rope snap and had jumped to his feet in concern. He stared at the water intently, getting progressively worried as seconds ticked past and the teen didn't surface. Just5 as Jake reached the finish line next to him, he realized something very wrong had happened and he was already running toward the pond, startling Jake as he passed.

Reaching the pond, Chance searched the water's surface frantically but could see no bubbles. He felt helpless. What he'd never told his partner was he didn't know how to swim and now when he truly needed the skill, all he could do was stand here helpless.

"Jake, he's not come up!" he shouted.

Jake was already returning to the water hazard when he'd seen the look of worry on his partner's face but when Chance shouted at him that Garrett was possibly drowning, he sped up his pace then leaped head first into the water, once he reached the edge of it, plunging out of view instantly.

To Chance's relief, Jake surfaced only moments later, an arm around Garrett's waist, as he swam strongly toward the shore. When he got close enough, Chance leaned down and grabbed the teen by the arm pits and pulled him free then laid him on his back on the ground. Jake climbed out of the water then dropped to his knees and began CPR.

His face was focused and grim as he alternately pumped the teen's chest then gave him several breathes in the mouth, keeping it up until water gushed from Garrett's mouth and nose. Jake quickly rolled the teen over as the kit gasped and spat water out for some minutes.

The two toms sighed with relief. When the kit could sit up, Jake asked, "are you alright?"

Garrett's response was to continue coughing then turn to crawl away from the water as fast as he could. When he was some distance, only then did he stop, continuing to cough and heave for breathe, his eyes round with terror.

Both adults hurriedly followed the kitten then knelt beside him. Chance rubbed the frightened teen's back and murmured soothingly, "easy...you're okay...slow your breathing down."

But Garrett wasn't listening as he continued to hyperventilate. His body was shaking and the panic hadn't subsided.

Frowning, Jake took the teen's face in his paws and forced Garret to look at him. "Calm down! You're safe now. Breath with me!" he ordered. Startled by Jake's sternness, the teen obeyed and began copying the adult's slower breathing pattern until his nerves were calmer and his body stopped shaking, his panic easing away. However, he was still very upset as evidenced by the tears and fearful look in his eyes.

Concerned, Jake gently gathered the teen into his arms and hugged him tightly. "Let's get you dry and warm," he coaxed, getting to his feet and tugging Garrett along as well. Still holding the kit tightly, he forced him to walk back to the garage and up to their apartment.

Once they reached Garrett's room, Jake helped Garrett strip his clothes off quickly while Chance got towels. The two of them briskly toweled off the teen then Jake left to dry and change while Chance stayed by the kit's side, soothing him.

Chance heart was finally slowing down from his own panic from fear of losing Garrett in such a horrible way. 'Crud! Poor kit, I've never seen him so terrified before.' He stared at a poster on Garrett's wall without really seeing it. The kit was still shaking a bit in his arms so he got up and got him some warm night clothing and slipped them on. Garrett moved rather mechanically, still lost in his head from what had happened.

Jake returned wearing pf bottoms and a black t-shirt. 'How's he doing?"

"Still shaking. I dressed him to get him warmer but he's not talking to me at the moment," Chance murmured, again hugging the teen, providing what comfort he could.

Frowning, Jake murmured, "let me take him now," as he moved to sit on the bed next to the teen. Chance nodded and released Garrett to Jake then sat with his paws in his lap to listen.

"Garrett?" Jake called the teen's name gently but the only response he got was more crying and shaky breathing. Sighing, Jake opted for hugging the teen for a little until he calmed more.

Chance sat quietly staring, face lined with concern. They waited some fifteen minutes before Jake deemed the kitten was calm enough to ask questions of. "Hey, squirt, what happened out there?" he asked gently.

At first it didn't seem like Garrett was going to talk at all, but finally, he raised his tear streaked face to stare into Jake's concerned eyes.

"I'm aquaphobic," he admitted miserably then hid his face in Jake's shoulder again, ashamed.

Chance shivered, he knew exactly what Garrett was feeling being the same way about water himself but still he didn't say anything.

Jake rubbed his shoulders, "Why didn't you tell us?"

Garrett sighed. "Because I don't like talking about it…"

"I can respect that, however, it's also dangerous. You could have drowned and we certainly wouldn't have placed you in that kind of danger if we'd known about it. You scared us half to death," he chastised the teen gently.

"I'm sorry. I just can't talk about it to anyone...it's not as bad as how my parent's died but it's pretty close," Garrett admitted softly.

"Unfortunately, that isn't an option. Holding onto that kind of fear cripples you. Talking about it is the first step towards overcoming it," Jake said more forcefully. He knew if Garrett didn't get over this, his chances in the enforcers were dead.

Chance swallowed and flicked his eyes at his partner then away. He'd never told Jake how he'd managed to avoid that requirement and knew his partner wouldn't be happy with him for having kept it a secret. Now with finding out Garrett too had the same problem, it made it harder and even more difficult for him to admit he had such a weakness.

Garrett raised his head again and stared at Jake. The adult stared back with grave seriousness and the teen knew the cinnamon tom wasn't going to let this go. Swallowing, he stared at the floor a moment gathering his thoughts.

"When I was nine, my parents took me to the beach. We were tossing a ball around near the water's edge for a bit then decided to go for a swim. It was fun until a giant wave came up suddenly and smashed over us. My parents were separated from me as were several others. A riptide caught us all and pulled us further out into the ocean..." he halted unable to continue.

Jake felt anguish suddenly and lowered his ears. "You don't have to finish if you don't want to," he offered, sensing how traumatic the event had been for the very young kitten.

Garrett took a deep breath, "I'm fine, it's just been a while since I've thought about it..…" he coughed and continued his story, "...we'd all been swept quite a ways out and it was all I could do to keep my head above water and I couldn't see my parents anywhere. I did see lifeguards struggling to reach me and four others struggling near me but then another wave came and shoved me under again. The stirred up sand kept me from seeing anything, so I panicked. I was desperately trying to get to the surface when I lost consciousness." He paused and shuddered as he remembered the horror of that long ago day. Jake and Chance were sorry the kitten had suffered such a terrifying thing but kept silent waiting for him to finish his tale.

"When I came to, I was laying on my back on the beach. I could see my mom crying over me and a lifeguard with defibrillator paddles in his paws, then things went hazy. I must have blacked out again because the next thing I knew I was in the hospital. My parents told me later that I'd been dead for three minutes. I was shocked but glad my parents had come out of that okay but it left me with an absolute terror of the water," he admitted.

Jake looked concerned about that but Garrett hastened to add, "it took awhile but I finally did manage to at least get in the water again, but only if my feet remain touching the bottom and my head is out of the water, anything else, I panic like you saw today."

The two toms could only shake their heads. Jake repeated what he'd said earlier, "I can understand why the memory is so traumatic for you but you still should have told us when you saw us build that obstacle course. No way did we want to cause you such distress."

"I know but that's all in the past for me and with you as lifeguard, I should be okay from now on," Garrett said, trying to be upbeat and ease the tension in the room.

However, Jake was shaking his head and frowning. "That's not good enough Garrett. It's a requirement, part of the physical test Enforcer's must pass to be able to join," he said seriously.

Garrett's eyes widened and he shook his head in disbelief, "…are…you serious?" he asked hoping there was a loophole of some kind.

"Dead serious. Though the test isn't that hard, with a phobia like that, you'd fail immediately and be refused entry," Jake said, sorry to burst the kitten's bubble but the teen had to overcome this if he was serious about joining.

Garrett lowered his ears and sighed, they sat there in silence for a few seconds then Jake shook him a bit.

"Hey, don't be so down. I can teach you how to swim. You at least are able to get into the water so all you need is training so that you're no longer afraid of having your feet out from under you nor having your head under the water. I promise I won't let you drown, what do you say?" he asked, smiling encouragingly.

Garrett looked down to his feet thinking, "Well…" he scratched the back of his neck, "I guess so because I still want to join...so yeah, I'd better learn to swim," he managed to give both toms a wane smile.

Jake smiled back, patting the teen's back. "That's the spirit! Knowing you, you'll breeze through it easily."

Garrett managed to laugh a bit though his throat was still sore from the coughing and the nasty taste of the water.

"Why don't I whip up something for us to eat, hmm?" Jake offered, Garrett shook his head. "You won, the deal was 'loser cooks dinner.'

"Normally, I'd take that bet and let you do it but nearly drowning is a serious trauma to the body so the prescription is rest and sleeping propped up to insure your lungs stay clear," Jake ordered, nixing the kitten's desire to honor their bet. "I'll take a raincheck on that."

Garrett was about to protest but Jake gave him a 'don't argue' stare that made it plain the teen should shut up now and do as told. "Fine, I accept."Rolling his eyes, Garrett settled into his bed and allowed Jake to prop him up with pillows and cover him up with his bedding then the tom left the room to make dinner.

He sighed and only then noticed Chance was still there. The adult had stood up when Jake had and gone to the door but remained standing in the doorway giving the kitten a thoughtful look. Finally, coming to a decision, he walked back over and sat next to Garrett who eyed him in surprise.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright?" he asked.

"A little hoarse and feeling ten kinds of stupid, but I'm okay," the teen assured him, smiling a little.

Turning to face the kitten face on, Chance said, softly, "you wanna know a secret?"

Eyeing the tabby in surprise, Garrett tilted his head slightly. "Sure."

"Before Jake was a pilot, he was terrified of lightning," Chance confided.

Garrett's eyes widened in shock. "No way!"

Chance chuckled at his poleaxed look. "Yeah, shocking isn't it? You'd never think it of him, would ya?"

Garrett shook his head in disbelief. "How could he be scared of lightning…he's a pilot!"

Chance smiled slightly, "That's because he forced himself to get over it. He would deliberately stand in the middle of a lightning storm as often as necessary until he finally was no longer afraid of it. Once he was over the fear, he applied for a pilot's position and, well, you know the rest." He stuck his tongue out playfully.

"Wow! What a way to get over your fear," Garret said, stunned. "So he's no longer scared of them, huh?"

Chance looked away for a second. "Uh…well sometimes it will startle him depending on how bad the storm is, but he doesn't let it panic him any longer. My point is, he refused to allow it to take away his dream. That's how much it meant to him and you can do the same if your desire to be an Enforcer is just as strong," he said, firmly. "You know, its really uncanny just how much alike you two are. I'm certain you'll kick this fear just as fast as he did, no doubt about it." He took off his hat and placed it on the kit's head. It was a little big and covered the kit's eyebrows.

Smiling, his eyes peering from under the brim, Garrett felt warm inside at the big tom's encouraging words. "I'll try my best," he promised.

"Well why don't I see how Jake's doing with dinner. You want a book or something before I leave?"

"Naw, thanks, I'll just rest."

Smiling, Chance rose to his feet and left the kitten's room.


	14. Chapter 14: The long road

**Another Side****  
**  
Chapter 14: The long road

Garrett pulled his backpack around his shoulder and waved goodbye to his friends as he walked away from them down the hall to the exit that lead to the parking lot. As he headed for the spot where he normally waited for Chance, he mused about what he'd been observing in the hidden hangar over the past few months.

He was a little worried about Jake's plan for the two of them to become crime fighters. It seemed Chance wasn't quite sold on the idea yet, but his friend was gradually wearing down his resolve on the subject of being a vigilante.

Garrett guessed he understood why Jake wanted to do this at all. The criminals that had been popping up lately were far more dangerous than the run of the mill crook. He hadn't forgotten the day he and Chance were nearly killed by what turned out to be metal birds designed by Dark Kat. Plus the fact, the Enforcers failures to capture the criminal nor keep him in jail when they did was a significant factor as well.

Then there was that weirdo with pink hair and a very creepy laugh, looking like a demented hyena rather than a Kat, who terrorized the city a few weeks ago and called himself Chop Shop. His high tech weapons wrecked havoc causing significant property damage and loss of lives before the Enforcers finally managed to bring him down.

Garrett thought they should have been able to control the situation better by using gas, a net, or some other kind of containment system to keep people from being killed and bring the creep down quicker. But the Enforcers methods were return fire with fire, doing as much damage as the criminal was, if not more. There had to be a better way and he thought some of the weapons Jake was developing might be the answer. However, vigilantism was still wrong.

Shaking his head, he reached his favorite tree and sank down, resting his back against the trunk. He'd received a text from Chance telling him the tom would be a little late due to a wreck down the road. Glancing toward the street, he could see traffic was indeed backed up.

He opened his backpack and pulled out a black Enforcer cap that Chance had given him and a bottle of water. Placing the cap on backwards on his head, he took a sip of water.

His arm flexed when he took a sip, showing off how much muscle he'd gained in the past few months training with Jake and Chance. He had a good amount of definition in his arms and legs. Though not broad in the chest like Chance, he was strong and wiry like Jake, and proud of it. He'd also put on height and weight recently so Chance could no longer pick him up as easily as he used to.

He chuckled as he remembered the time when Ms. Briggs stopped by and he'd fallen asleep on the couch without a shirt, as usual. Chance needed Jake's help to lift him and ended up with him up side down and all of them laughing at his shout of surprise at finding himself facing the floor.

What he particularly like was how the girls at the art club were complimenting him on his physique and on how neat his hair was, which he kept short and neat.

Thinking of the club, it reminded him the talent show was coming up in a few months and he still hadn't decided what he intended to do. Rebecca suggested singing but he just wasn't too keen on the idea yet, after the talent show his birthday would be coming up soon which meant he could look forward to getting his driver's license.

The sound of a vehicle driving close, made him bring his head up. There was the familiar green sedan roll close to him. He wrinkled his nose at the amount of dirt on it. "They really need to clean that thing,' he thought then snorted, 'course if they finally do, they'll probably make me clean it.' He got to his feet and slung his pack over one shoulder then walked over to the car. He hopped in after he said hi to Chance, clicked his seatbelt.

As Chance drove them home, his mind drifted to a few months ago when Chance and Jake were out on a tow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
**Flashback...Garrett**

He decided to go down to the hangar and get a real look at what the two had been up to. Jumping down to the landing, he'd strolled down the hall to the secondary hangar and yanked the huge door back just enough for him to slip in.

Looking around, he was impressed by the look of the jet. It was now painted black overall with red and blue trimming. It looked really cool. He climbed the wing and stared into the cockpit. It certainly looked far more advanced than any of the enforcer jets he'd seen come through here. Jake had done an incredible job.

He jumped down and moseyed over to the work bench and pulled the tarp off. Whistling, he stared at all the really cool looking weapons Jake had developed, especially the glove, Chance had dubbed the Glovatrix.

Taking a risk, he carefully picked it up the one that belonged to Jake. It was heavier than a normal glove but not extremely so and had a lot of gadgets on it. He set it back down gently and covered the table again. Looking around he spotted something hanging on the wall nearby. He went over and saw they were newly made G-suits. They were black with red and blue trim that matched the jet and there were two helmets that matched.

Going over to the computer station, he studied some of the blueprints stacked there. Jake's handwriting was clear and concise. He realized he could actually build one of these things himself if he wanted to as Jake's diagrams were very easy to understand. However, he probably would never get the chance to.

Not long after that, perhaps a month later, he witnessed the jet's first maiden flight. How beautiful and exciting it looked against the moonlit sky. He wished he was flying up there with them.

Then just a month ago, the so called SWAT Kats as they were called by the press, appeared for the first time. He was excited and afraid at the same time. He worried about them surviving this choice they made and how that would affect him in the long run.

**Present day...**

That made him sigh, as he rested his head on his paw looking out the window of the car.

Curious, Chance gave the teen a quick glance. The young tom seemed to be deep in thought. "You're awfully quiet...something on your mind?" he asked, lightly.

Garrett jerked his attention back to the present and turned his head toward the adult, blinking his green eyes innocently. "Nah...just have lots on my mind of mundane value, is all." He shrugged and chuckled lightly to reassure Chance.

Chance eyed him a moment longer, but decided to let the subject go, though he had a suspicion something was troubling the teen. Hopefully, he would talk to him or Jake soon before it became a real issue.

Sighing mentally, it was his turn to let his mind drift away while a small portion watched the road. It had been an eventful six months but all that hard work had been worth it the moment he flew their jet out the hidden runway and into the night sky that first time.

**Flashback...first flight...first mission...Chance**

It had been glorious to be flying again. Only at that moment, did he realize just how much he'd missed it. The yoke moved with ease beneath his experienced paw. The newly christened 'Turbokat' was performing better than they'd ever hoped and engines purred like kittens as they propelled them across the sky.

"She's a dream, buddy!"

"She sure is. Let's take her out to the desert and give her engines a full test as well as her weapons," his partner ordered excitedly.

"You got it!"

That night was imprinted on his brain for all time. Except for a few minor glitches and a need to adjust the fuel mixtures, Jake proclaimed the test flight a huge success. They celebrated with a bottle of the best champagne they could buy as they sat staring at their jet, still in their new G-suits.

Only a month later, Jake convinced him, after an attack by Dark Kat had ended in near disaster for the Enforcers, to become a vigilante. He still had his reservations but after that first mission he was never looking back. It truly felt good helping others as he'd sworn to do when he'd been an Enforcer.

That had been an exciting and scary day for them both. Having an illegal enforcer radio, they monitored calls and today they got one perfect for their first outing. Luckily, Garrett was at school so they didn't have to try and explain why they were taking off so abruptly. Closing the garage, they hurried to their lockers, donned their G-suits and were aboard the jet in record time.

"Nervous, Razor?" he called to his partner. He was a little concerned, as they had failed to take out the enemy on their first run at them. He briefly gave thought to how cool their new call signs were before refocusing on the task at paw.

Razor snorted, distracted, as he stared into his radar scope trying to find where their target had gone. "I'm not throwing the towel in yet T-Bone." Spotting their target, he called out, "got him...turn due west!"

"Roger!" T-Bone steered the jet toward the western section of the city and saw the stolen armored car barreling down the road, making cars swerve and dodge or be run down. "I see him. Better take him out before he causes more accidents," he warned his partner, grimly.

The canny criminals, had planned this heist months in advance. The vehicle had been specially designed and heavily armored to resist anything the Enforcers had and was armed to the teeth.

The robbery at the Megakat National Bank had gone off without a hitch and they were now hightailing it to their destination...a cargo plane waiting to taxi at the airport. It would take the vehicle and all so there was no need to unload their loot. All they had to do was get there

The Enforcers were helpless but doggedly continued the pursuit. Both parties were taken by surprise when a souped up and advanced looking jet entered the fight.

"Doesn't look like the Enforcers have been able to slow them down at all and we didn't do so good the first time. Ready for another attempt?" T-Bone asked as he brought them into range again.

"I'll get them this time, you just get close enough for me," Razor gritted, totally focused.

T-Bone did as ordered and brought the jet down to building level which, of course, brought them directly into the line of sight of the Enforcers.

An angry and familiar voice boomed from their radio. "Unidentified jet! This is Enforcer business, identify yourself!"

T-Bone snorted, switched to the Enforcer band and spoke into his helmet mike. "It's our business now. You've already had your chance, Commander and failed. Let T-Bone and Razor show you how it's done," he said smugly.

"Better take them out, buddy or we'll look like idiots," he said privately to Razor on their own frequency.

"The Enforcers will handle this, do not interfere or you will be arrested!" Commander Feral retorted, rising anger in his voice.

T-Bone was amused. "What's the matter can't stand a little help?" Ignoring Feral's order to desist and move off.

Their conversation was interrupted by a missile fired at them by the crew aboard the armored car. T-Bone growled and quickly sent the jet into a barrel roll to dodge it.

Razor clenched his teeth as his stomach rebelled at the sudden move. Annoyed as well, he waited until they righted again, acquired a target spot and fired. "Missile deployed!" he shouted to warn his partner.

Unfortunately, the missile didn't even scratch the metal alloy that was the armor. It shot off and took out a section of highway abutment, the armored car was zipping past.

"Crud!" Razor cursed, searching his weapons board for something else.

"Guess that armor is tougher than we thought, buddy. Hope you have something stronger in that arsenal of yours," T-Bone growled, getting a little concerned. They just couldn't fail in this, their first battle or no one would take them seriously.

Razor thought for a minute then snapped his fingers, "I think now's a good time to test out a Shark missile."

"Good idea. I'll get us as close as we can." He brought the jet around and lined them up again, ignoring all the Enforcer choppers buzzing around them including Feral's now anger rant on the radio for them to break off.

"Missile deployed!" Razor shouted.

From beneath the jet a missile shot out from the lower launch tube and unerring went straight for its target. Just before it was halfway there, the metal casing fell away revealing a nose cone with sharp mental teeth resembling a shark's snout. It reached the armored vehicle and tore through its side with ease and sending it to flip on its side. The vehicle slid into a nearby telephone pole effectively ending its race for escape.

The battered occupant's crawled out the side of the vehicle pointing skyward and into the waiting paws of the Enforcer ground squad who formed a cordon around them. Feral landed his chopper nearby and shouted, "you are under arrest!"

At the sound of a jet's engine overhead, Feral looked up at the amazing sight of it hovering on VTOL. He scowled. How the heck did these guys get a jet the enforcers didn't have? And who the hell are they? Were his annoyed thoughts.

Calling into his radio, he snarled at them, "you two are under arrest for interfering with an enforcer pursuit. Land your jet and come out with your paws up!"

"You've got to be kidding me!" T-Bone laughed.

That infuriated Feral who barked back, "we would have had them if you haven't interfered!"

"Oh sure, you were doing soo well...not!" T-Bone snorted.

Razor snorted, "Geez, what a grouch!"

T-Bone laughed. "Forget it Commander. When trouble rears its head, the SWAT Kats will be there to kick their tails." Feral could only growl impotently as the jet went to forward motions and shot away out of sight. However, he knew this wouldn't be the last time he would see them.

It had been a successful first mission and they'd been going out on many more after that with equal success. Their names were on everyone's lips and it felt good.

**Present day...**

As Chance turned into the salvage yard, his mind returned to the present but a small smile still lit his face as he parked the car.

Garrett's own thoughts were interrupted when they pulled in and parked. He unbuckled himself then stepped from the sedan, grabbing his backpack off the seat. He coughed from the dust thrown up from the car then sniffed. Immediately his nose was assaulted by someone's perfume.

There, standing beside her vehicle, was Calico Briggs talking with Jake. The pair turned to stare at the two toms getting out of the vehicle.

Callie smiled radiantly, pointing at her car. "Hi guys. I just brought my car in because the brakes are making a horrid noise when used."

Garrett raised an eyebrow at the car but said nothing. Shaking his head, he couldn't believe how often she brought that jalopy in. She really needs to replace it, he thought as he waved at her in passing and headed upstairs to the apartment to change clothes.

"My, he's certainly shot up in height since last I'd seen him," Callie remarked.

"It has been three weeks," Jake chuckled.

Callie laughed, "Yes, I know. It's obvious, you two have been taking great care of him. He's happy." She paused looking thoughtful, "You know, I've always been a bit curious on how he ended up here."

Chance chuckled. "It's a loooong story, but it's his to tell. Maybe he'll let you in on it eventually." He waggled his eyebrows at her coyly causing her to giggle. Jake rolled his eyes at his friend's obvious flirting.

She snorted, amused at the tabby's attempts at seduction. "Perhaps I can coax him to do so for me. How about the four of us go out to dinner next Saturday, my treat?" she asked, smiling sweetly at the pair of them.

Jake shrugged and smiled shyly. Chance was all over that in a heartbeat. "Sounds great. It fits with out attempts to get the kit out in public more."

Callie eyed him in confusion. Chance grinned and shrugged. "It's part of that long story," he admitted, scratching the back of his neck and looking sheepish.

She made a silent "oh" with her lips before saying, "Alright, looks like I have something to look forward to."

Upstairs, Garrett walked into his room after going to the bathroom and began to change clothes. Seeing Callie reminded him of the first time he saw Chance and Jake respond to a call from her but it had nothing to do with her car.

**Flashback...Garrett**

It was just after the two had made their appearance as the SWAT Kats. He'd been spying on them, as usual, when they were tuning up the jet. Suddenly, a loud alarm went off, startling him.

He saw Chance hurry to a phone he'd not seen before and speak into it. What the tabby said stunned him.

"Yes Ms. Briggs, what's up?" Chance had made his voice deeper and gruffer, obviously disguising it.

Unlike a normal phone, this had a speaker so that Jake could hear what was being said as well so Garrett was able to hear what the deputy mayor said next.

"T-Bone! Hard Drive stole an Enforcer jet along with important security data from their computer. You have to stop him!" She said urgently.

"We're on our way, Ms. Briggs!" T-Bone assured her then cut the connection. He and Jake ran to some lockers and hurriedly changed clothes then ran to the jet.

Jake had set up an automatic signal to open the dividing door so that Chance could taxi the jet to the other hangar and the hidden runway. In very little time they were gone, leaving a completely shocked teen behind.

All Garrett could do was shake his head. How the heck did they get Ms. Briggs to be their warning system on the bad guys and what did she use to contact them with? An ordinary phone nor cell would do since it could be traced. Jake must have made some kind of communicator.

Wow! They really planned this whole vigilante business out really well, he thought. As he left the hangar and went back upstairs to his room, he ruminated over what he'd seen and heard.

He realized he was not okay with his guardian's going on these missions and risking their lives but he knew he would never talk them out of it. And since he loved them like family he would have to accept this was what they wanted to do with their lives. So the only thing that made him truly upset was the fact the two insisted on keeping this a secret from him.

Perhaps it was because he wanted to be an enforcer and they didn't want to force him to decide on protecting their secret versus turning them in as his duty required. He didn't like being put in that position either. However, that decision was way in the future. They might not even still be SWAT Kats by that time, one could hope. Meanwhile, he would keep their secret. What else could he do.

But that vow was getting hard to keep when he would spot injuries on them many times after they'd gone out fighting. They would pretend and hide it but it reminded him just how dangerous their secret mission was. One particular omega they'd fought had scared Garrett terribly.

He'd seen what had happened on the news when he'd returned from school not long ago. He shuddered at the memory. The news report had told their audience how Viper came to be then how he'd captured the Mayor and deputy mayor, planning to change them into monsters like himself but the SWAT Kats got there in time and saved them though they hadn't gotten away unscathed. They explained away the numerous bruises on a scrap pile falling on them.

He hadn't bought it but pretended he did and warned them to be more careful in the future. They laughed and promised they would.

Fortunately, the two had advanced medical skills learned in the academy and were teaching him what they knew. He never told them his own mother had already taught him these things, they would have just laughed and say his mother was a bit crazy. He was just glad he was so skilled. They just might have need of him soon enough if they kept on the way they were going.

**Present day...**

Sighing, he pushed those memories away, picked up a pair of goggles, perched them on his head and walked back downstairs to go to work. As he reached the garage, he caught sight of Ms. Briggs just climbing into the Mayor's limo.

He found Jake already elbow deep in the engine of her car but Chance was still outside the door, waving at the lovely she-kat as the limo took off. Garrett shook his head and smiled, someone had a crush going on, he smirked to himself.

One other thing bothered him about the guys second job, the times they were called out left them tired and exhausted, especially when it happened too many times in a row leaving them no break to recover. He knew exhaustion could lead to some serious mistakes on their part and maybe get them killed.

It worried him so much that he suffered nightmares about it sometimes. He was so close to them that losing them would be devastating. He'd lost so much already in his life. He thought of the pair as older brothers and the closest he'd come to having a family since his parents had died. He loved Matthew as well but the two males had managed to get under his fur much more.

Sometimes it got real hard to keep their secret and pretend he had no clue what was going on. The only thing that made him feel better was the fact he was now able to send Jake to the mat. His record stood at four tosses so far. The greatest challenge yet was to drop Chance. He laughed at himself at how badly he wanted to do that. Right now, though, he was just pathetic as the big tom could toss him without breaking a sweat and he couldn't get even a good hold on Chance before he was thrown to the mat. But he never gave up trying.

He loved how Chance treated him like a brother, playing tricks on him and teasing him just like a real brother would. He remembered one time when the roof was leaking and he was forced to sleep in Jake's room for three days. Chance teased him every chance he got about finding Garrett cuddled against Jake's body but he managed to get even when he found out Chance was mortally afraid of bugs.

Garrett caught a grasshopper one day and dropped it into Chance's lap. He never knew the tabby could jump so high. He laughed for days about it. It was memories like that he wanted to make last forever. He wished there was something he could do to help them and keep them safe instead of sitting around at the yard waiting and praying they returned safely to him again.

His meandering thought's were interrupted when a sneeze jarred his head followed by a wicked coughing spell. All day he'd not felt particularly well at school. He was afraid he'd picked up something from a classmate who had been under the weather and should not have really come to school at all. It looked like he had it too now.

He groaned aloud in displeasure.

Jake heard and eyed him in concern. He'd not liked how the teen looked that morning and told him he should stay home but Garrett had shaken his head. However, after a long day at school and trying to work, he felt much worse.

"Sounds like that cold has gotten a real hold on you," Jake observed.

Garrett shrugged. "I'll get over it," he muttered, not wanting to be fussed over.

But Jake wasn't to be put off. He stopped work and came over to Garrett and felt his forehead. Irritated, the teen shoved the adult's paw off him.

"I said I'm fine," he growled but his voice was hoarse.

The slim tom growled back. "No, you're not. You look worse than you did this morning."

"It's just a cold. No big deal." Garrett was getting a bit angry now but suddenly a wave of nausea swept over him. His eyes widened and he slapped a paw over his mouth as he made a mad dash for the waiting room bathroom, shoving past Chance in his haste.

"Woah! What's with..." Chance started to say then winced when he heard violent retching. "Never mind...he sounds bad."

The two adults went to the bathroom to check on the teen, wiping the grease off their paws on a rag first. Jake leaned into the partly open door and asked quietly, "a little cold, huh?"

Garrett looked up blearily and saw a small smirk on the slim tom's face. "Bite me!" he retorted then began to cough again.

Smile vanishing from his face, Jake turned to look back at his partner. "Does your mom still run that clinic?"

Eyeing Garrett over his friend's shoulder, Chance nodded. Frowning in concern, he said, "yeah, she does though it's been awhile since I've seen her." Flushing a little in embarrassment at that admission.

Jake didn't comment but said instead, "we'd better take Garrett to see her. I'm afraid he's got more than just a cold going on there by the sounds of it."

"Yeah, I agree. I'll ring her up. She's been wanting to see Garrett anyway. We've just been too busy to go," Chance sighed, stepping away and pulling his phone out.

"Aw come on guys, don't make such a big deal about it," Garrett whined, not interested in going to see a doctor, nor caring if it was Chance's mom or not.

Jake shook his head while Chance was on the phone. "It might not seem bad yet but it could get worse by later tonight and the clinic will be closed by then."

The teen groaned, the one thing he hated the most was being babied. However, he knew they were just looking out for him so he sighed and raised his paws in defeat, "Fine, whatever!" He washed his mouth out, wiped his face off then began to walk out of the garage.

Chance finished with his call and went to the fridge to get a bottle of water, halting Garrett to hand it to him before the teen headed out to the car.

Turning to his partner he said, "Mom says she can see him when we get there. Despite the reason, she's excited about meeting him. So let's close up. We can work on Callie's rig when we get back. Thankfully, there are no others waiting."

"Good idea," Jake agreed, going about the process of closing the garage doors. When they were finished they climbed into the car and drove out of the yard.

Garrett was half slumped in the back seat using the water bottle to cool his heated forehead. He felt really tired and he would cough every few minutes. Guess he was sicker than he thought.

Dr. Rita Furlong was finishing up notes on some patient records before closing for the day. She'd been surprised when her son had called her out of the blue and unhappy to learn poor Garrett was under the weather. Though not a good way to meet the young tom, she was still glad to get the chance despite the circumstances. Her son might not ever make the time again. She sighed and smiled.

Her thoughts were interrupted by her receptionist telling her last patient had arrived. She thanked her and told her to go ahead and leave when she was ready. She got up, closed the files and tossed them into a basket for filing by her office staff.

She checked her hair in the mirror a moment before leaving her office for the waiting room. She opened the door and smiled at her son standing there with his best friend Jake. Looking at the kit, she shook her head. When Chance said he was the spitting image of Jake he wasn't kidding.

Chance came up and hugged her tightly, "hi mom, how ya been?"

"Just fine sweetie," She purred, pleased to see him looking so fit despite not working for the Enforcers any longer. That thought still made her a little sad.

Jake waved and said a soft 'hello' in her direction. She graced him with a warm smile. She liked the tom very much and he was the best thing that had ever happened to her son.

Turning to the young teen who was sitting in a the chair now, she murmured sympathetically, "So you're the cranky teenager I've been hearing so much about. It's amazing how much you look like Jake," she commented, smiling. Ruffling his hair, she said, "I swear you two look like brothers."

Garrett managed to give her a weak grin. He liked her and didn't mind her gentle touch even though she had messed his hair up. Then his stomach flipped again making him groan and rub a paw across it.

"Hmm, tummy trouble, eh? How about we go to an exam room..." she said, becoming a doctor and not a mother at that moment. "Do you want them to come with you?" She asked.

He shrugged and nodded.

Smiling, she lead them all through the door she came in and down a small hall, opening a door to a room and gesturing them to enter.

Garrett moved slowly, feeling really crappy.

"Sit up on the table, please, Garrett," she instructed as she pulled out a pair of gloves and pulled them on. Picking up a patient file folder her nurse had left for her and pulling out a pen, she began to ask him questions. "Alrighty, what seems to be the problem…well besides the obvious," she asked, warmly.

Garrett sniffed, "My throat feels like I'm swallowing sandpaper, my nose burns and my stomach feels like it's doing gymnastics…basically." His voice was a bit hoarse; letting out a cough again.

Rita nodded and wrote the information on the clipboard then asked him a lot of basic health questions that he tried to answer as accurately as he could. Finished, she set the file down on the rolling table nearby. "Okay, please take everything from the waist up off, please."

Jake came close and helped him pull his shirt and tee off then held onto it for the teen, moving back to stand near the door with Chance.

She came close and used a stethoscope to listen to Garrett's heart and lungs, a tongue depressor and lighted scope to check his throat and tonsils, put a thermometer in his mouth to check his temp as she took his pulse then finished up by taking his blood pressure.

"Alright sugar, it seems you've managed to catch a small stomach bug." She made a tsk sound as she went to the sink to watch her paws.

Chance frowned in concern, raising a paw to gently scratch the kit between his ears. "So what are you going to do for him, Mom?"

"There's not too much that can be done. I can give him a shot for nausea but rest and clear fluids are the best thing right now. He'll get over the worst of it in about 24 hours and be right as rain in about a week. Oh, and no school until Monday. Don't want to give it to others, do we?" She said, smiling sympathetically when the kit moaned at the restriction. "Like school, huh? That's good. Too many would love to play hooky and watch TV or play video games," she said knowingly. "Glad you aren't one of them. I'll be right back." She left the room then returned a few minutes later with a filled syringe.

"Okay, this will sting a bit," she warned as she took the teen's left arm, swabbed it, then pricked his skin, injecting the medicine quickly. "There, all done."

Garrett had hissed a little at the sting but once she was done, he hurriedly put his clothes back on giving his guardian's and Rita a venomous glare.

She snorted, amused. "Oh don't be like that, it wasn't that bad and it will make your stomach quiet." She patted the teen's arm lightly.

The teen wasn't placated, annoyed at being so abused in the first place and just being grouchy. He huffed crossing his arms over his chest and pouting. "I hate all of you…" he groused.

Rita didn't let his pissiness bother her, it was typical behavior for teens. "You'll thank me later," she said, smiling.

Garrett just rolled his eyes. He was willing to bet his parent's ghosts were laughing from the grave right now. He winced when Dr. Furlong gave him a light kiss on his head.

"Make sure he get's lots of rest and stays hydrated," she warned the two toms then gave Chance and Jake kisses on their cheeks. "And why don't you give him one of your papa's 'fix all brews'?" she suggested with a grin.

Chance smiled and nodded. "You got it."

Rita wrote down a school excuse for Garrett and wrote instructions for his care to give Chance. "Let me know tomorrow how he's feeling," she told her son, patting his cheek then sending them all off.

After taking Garrett home, feeding him what Chance's mother had suggested, then tucking him into bed, they retreated to fix something for their own dinner. While the teen slept, they went downstairs and finished up Callie's car then went back upstairs to clean up.

They finished the evening by watching some TV. When they went to bed, they paused to check on Garrett. Both smiled when they saw him sleeping soundly with nary a cough.

"Looks like your dad's special brew worked like a charm," Jake said, closing the teen's door.

"Yeah, he's out like a blown engine," Chance grinned, relieved.

Before they split up for their own rooms, Chance put a paw out to his partner's shoulder.

Jake paused and eyed his friend, "hmm? What?"

Glancing back at Garrett's door, Chance said hesitantly in a low voice, "Um...Jake? I've been thinking...should we let the kit know what were doing?"

Jake eyed his friend in surprise. Looking away, he thought hard. His original reason for keeping Garrett in the dark was still very valid. He simply did not want Garrett to be linked to the SWAT Kats in case Feral managed to catch them. For his safety, it was better the teen didn't know.

"No. I'm sorry, buddy but I just don't want Garrett to know about us in case Feral somehow manages to catch us. I don't want him to be arrested with us and have his future as an Enforcer ruined because of it," he said grimly.

Chance's face fell. "Oh…right…I didn't think about that. I just felt bad lying to him about it all these months…I thought…maybe…" the blond tabby sighed and stared down at his bare feet.

Jake sighed, "I know buddy, but I think it's just safer for Garrett if he didn't know. However, if he finds out on his own...well I guess we'll have to tell him then but until that happens, I want to keep him in the dark." He looked toward the door himself and added, softly, "if he does find out, I hope he isn't too pissed with us."

Chance sighed, "I guess…" without another word the two parted and went to their bedrooms.

Garrett tossed restlessly in his sleep. In his dreams he was standing in a long white hallway which seemed to go on forever. Suddenly, he saw a figure wearing attire similar to the SWAT Kats only the colors of the G-suit was much darker without the colorful markings of red and blue, his back to him.

Garrett stared at the strange figure. Something didn't seem right about him. He realized after a moment, the figure seemed to be getting closer to him though he still kept his back to him.

Concerned, Garrett began to step backward away while the figure continued to close in on him until he suddenly turned to look over his shoulder at Garrett. The figure wore a helmet that covered his upper face but the lower jaw was the same coloring as...

"Jake?" he called, hesitantly.

The figure turned completely around and stared down at himself then up again. "Wrong," he whispered, his voice dark, matching his shadowy appearance. It definitely wasn't Jake.

Before Garrett could say anything to the figure the floor behind the tom shattered and vanished but the stranger never reacted. Eyes growing wide with horror, Garrett watched as the rest of the floor around the figure shattered and disappeared as well.

His attention was so riveted to the floor he hadn't seen the stranger move until he was nearly nose to nose with him.

Jerking his head back in shock, he heard the tom say, "act before you have time to regret..."then everything went dark.

He gasped and woke suddenly, sitting up in his bed. He began coughing and reached over for his water to ease his raw throat. He shook his head. What the hell did Chance give me? That was the weirdest dream. He set the cup down and looked at his clock...it was three in the morning.

Groaning, he lay back down and pulled his cover's back up. He shoved the dream away though he did briefly wonder what the heck it had been about. And just what did that guy mean by 'act before you have time to regret?' Oh well, he wasn't going to solve it feeling the way he did. Sleep pulled him back down, the voice and those strange words chasing him into the darkness.

**A/N: Rita Furlong is copyrighted to Nyte Kat, thank you for letting me use her in my story :)**


	15. Chapter 15: Bottled Emotions

**Another Side**

Chapter 15: Bottled Emotions

**A month later...**

Garrett sat on the edge of the couch in their apartment and watched a Kat's Eye Newscast with nervous tension. On the screen he witnessed first hand his guardian's dodging a missile fired from a stolen jet by Hard Drive. From what Ann Gora was saying, the Turbokat was weaponless due to the Anti-Weapon's Scrambler Hard Drive had stolen and used on them. But with Razor's ingenuity, a simple can of paint forced the villain from the sky where Razor captured him moments later.

He sank back into the couch with a sigh of immense relief. This encounter was tame compared to so many others. One time, Jake had a huge gash on his left arm and across one cheek from a ground mission.

Of course, he passed it off as another scrap yard accident. Just how many of these so called 'accidents' was he expected to swallow. It was getting so bad, he was on the verge of yelling to the offenders face, 'enough already...you're lying...you got that being a SWAT Kat!' but yet again, he would bite his tongue.

It was all getting too much and he was tired of being sick with worry. It might make it easier if he could debrief with them and feel a part of this great adventure they were on rather then sit here and be scared to death and angry at mistakes he could see but not rail at them about.

It hurt to see how much shit they put up with from Feral and others who didn't like them. Oh sure, they had their fans who adored them, but he was the one who actually knew and loved them for who they were really and it truly scared him at how many times he could have lost them.

The pretense of not knowing they were the SWAT Kats was really wearing on him as time passed. All the secrecy was eroding away his determination to be strong. A sob suddenly escaped him and he let it, unable and unwilling to hold back his anguish any longer.

He cried for some time until he heard them driving into the yard. The call had come in while he was on the bus coming home from school. He'd managed to catch the news when he walked in. He quickly got up from his seat and disappeared in his room before they would appear and see his tear stained face. He needed to change to his coveralls before they realized he hadn't done so yet.

Ready for work, he left his room and walked into the kitchen to get something to drink. His throat was rather raw from crying. They were there drinking water. They looked tired but had no new injuries on them, he was relieved to note as he passed by and got the milk out.

"Hey kiddo, how was school?" Chance asked nonchalantly. They had developed a method of hiding where they were by taking the tow truck off site a short distance, go on the mission, return and walk to the truck, then drive it into the yard as if they'd been on a call. It seemed to work like a charm.

"It was the same as usual, nothing new," he grunted.

Jake chuckled, "the same answer all the time. One would think you were in a rut."

Garrett didn't respond. Inside he was screaming 'I know where you've been!' but he choked it down yet again. As Jake and Chance made them a snack. They needed it after such a workout. As he watched them, he ruminated on what would happen if they did tell him?

"Hey Garrett, you want anything?" Jake called out, snapping the teen's attention back to the present.

"Uh...no thanks, I had a snack when I got home," he lied then left for the living room unable to stand being near at that moment.

Going downstairs, he checked the garage. No cars were waiting. He sighed. It would have been better to work and get his mind off this subject. He heard the guys coming downstairs, talking quietly to each other.

"Want to watch a movie that's just coming on, Garrett?" Chance called to him.

"Sure, nothing better to do right now," he agreed, reluctantly and walked back into the waiting area and sat down between them as they watched something called, 'Cloverfield'. The show only made him more miserable as the monster reminded him of just how many real monsters his guardians faced every time they went out.

As he watched the movie creature get hit by dozens of missiles, he startled a little when they reached the part of the show where the survivors were climbing up to the helicopter and the monster followed then tore off the chopper's tail sending it spinning out of control. He couldn't stand watching it anymore so grabbed the remote and shut it off as the chopper crashed into the ground.

Chance blinked at the blank screen in surprise as did Jake. The two turned to stare at the teen with wide, confused eyes.

"Why did you do that?" Chance demanded, grabbing the remote back to switch the TV on again.

Garrett trembled as he grabbed the remote out of Chance's paw, clicked the TV off again and stood up, placing the remote on the TV before turning to face them. A grim, tense look on his face. He crossed his arms over his chest and stared at them.

"I know!"

Jake blinked in confusion. "Know what?"

"What you've really been up to. I know about the jet, the weapons, being the SWAT Kats, everything," Garrett said flatly.

The two adults sat frozen and still then turned to stare at each other. Okay, we knew this would happen, now how do they handle this? It was Jake who finally spoke up, turning his head to stare quietly into Garrett's angry ones.

"How long have you known?"

"About six months."

The two winced at that. Chance felt ashamed and embarrassed now about the lame excuses they'd used to put the teen off and all along, Garrett had known and kept silent about all this time.

"How did you find out?" Jake asked, softly.

"I couldn't sleep one night and your door was cracked. I looked in and you weren't there. That's when I looked everywhere for you both. I finally checked the hangar and found you. The jet was still being worked on at the time. Later, I would drop down there and see how far you'd gotten and finally, saw your G-suits and witnessed one of your take-offs. Even listened on one of your first calls from Ms. Briggs. By the way, how does she call you? That's been puzzling me for a while," Garrett explained.

Jake gave him a wane smile, "oh, I put together a nifty little communicator she hides in her purse."

Garrett nodded. "That's what I thought."

An awkward silence fell for a long moment.

"You're pissed, aren't you?" Chance ventured, cautiously. Garrett just glared at him. "Well, why didn't you just tell us you'd found out?"

"Because I figured you had a good reason for not telling me so I kept it to myself." His anger drained away and he looked at the floor as he rubbed his left arm, anxiously.

Jake knew this was a sign of extreme nervousness on the teen's part and it made him feel bad to have caused it. "We're sorry Garrett" he sighed. "You're right, we kept it a secret because if we were ever caught, they wouldn't be able to link us to you. We just didn't want to ruin your chances to enter the academy because of us."

Garrett relaxed and sighed. It was as he'd thought. They were only looking out for him.

"We wanted to tell you but…anyway, guess we didn't do a good job of hiding, huh?" Chance smiled sheepishly. Garrett didn't smile back but did look the tabby in his blue eyes and knew the adult was just trying to ease the tension with mild humor.

"I understand...really I do...but..." he paused and stared down at his feet. "Every time you went on a mission, I would get so worried that something bad would happen to you or even worse, that you might never come back at all." The last part in the teen's words made their hearts sink.

That heartfelt admission made the adults hearts sink. "I-I don't know what to say…" Jake uttered, "we never meant to worry you to death but...we just needed to get back in the air and protect the city we'd been trained to do and were now denied. With out specialized weapons and faster jet, we're much better equipped to do just that than are the Enforcers but I understand if you're disappointed in us becoming vigilantes to do this."

Garrett sighed, "I know, truly I do...it's in your hearts to protect this city...I don't blame for finding some way to do it. I just worry about you...all those injuries you come home with...I couldn't stand the thought of losing you both…" He walked back over to the couch and sat down between them. "You both are like family to me and I can't bear losing yet another family again…" he could feel the tears coming welling up again, but held them in. A pair of arms surrounded his shoulders and he wasn't surprised to find they belonged to Jake.

"We're sorry Garrett." He pulled back but kept an arm around the teen's shoulders and looked him in the eye, "If we could we would quit, but we've become nearly indispensable now to be able to. The city's really needs us to keep them save. The Enforcers do manage to keep the low level criminals in control but the omegas are the greatest threat and they just can't handle them."

Garrett leaned into the tom's shoulder. "I know…" he said weakly, feeling a tear run down his face.

Chance sighed and scratched the teen between the ears. "Garrett, we promise you won't lose us. We're as careful as we can be. Like we told Ann Gora, 'down these mean sky's a Kat must fly, we want to be the good guys." Chance could see the introspective look on the kit's face, obviously processing what he'd said.

"And despite what the Enforcer's might think, we just want to make Megakat City a safer place." Jake finished what had become their mantra.

Garrett normally would be embarrassed by how much he enjoyed the scratching Chance was administering and Jake's warmth, but it felt so good and reminded him so much of his parents.

Chance kept scratching the kit's head. "I know how you feel kiddo, when my dad joined the Enforcer's, I was worried sick every time he went to work." He chuckled, "I nearly shit my pant's once when his plane got shot down. Thank God, he parachuted out before his plane went down."

Jake smiled lightly; he wiped a tear with his thumb from the teen's face. "All families worry when their loved ones go out to protect the people and their city, whether they are Enforcers or firekats, it goes with the territory and they learn to accept what they can't change and enjoy all the times they spend together and let the future take care of itself. Though the choice we made is more dangerous than all those other jobs, we have insured we're trained and as skilled as we can be to survive our encounters. You must accept that and just be. Okay?" Jake asked, warmly.

Chance was a bit surprised on how fatherly Jake was being, it was a side oh him he never seen before.

Garrett thought hard about what Jake was saying and it made a lot of sense. Just because his guardians were the SWAT Kats didn't mean they were in more or less danger than all the other defenders of the city and they all had families who worried. It made him normal. Though he would still worry, he would learn to temper that with remembering all the times they spent together and not let it get to him as much.

He managed a wane smile. "Okay, I understand and thanks for putting it into perspective for me. I did forget that others are in the same situation as me but manage all the same dealing with it.

"That's the spirit. And we'll do the same," Jake said, pleased the teen had understood so well and feeling better himself on the subject. It certainly needed to be spelled out plainly so they all could adjust to what their future was now. He glanced over at Chance who was giving him a rather strange look but he didn't comment on it.

Feeling Jake had said all the right things, for which he was grateful, Chance smiled and ruffled the teen's hair. "You were just worried about us, no shame in that is there?"

Garrett shook his head and laughed a bit, "I know but still, you'd think I would be a little more macho about it."

Chance shook his head. "It takes a real tom to admit his concern and cry when it's appropriate. Holding it in is bad for you...as my mother always says but I don't always obey." He snorted.

Garrett laughed at that but felt compelled to say, "...or a gay one..." he joked.

Chance roared with laughter, pulled the kitten from Jake's arms into his strong embrace and used his knuckles to grind a bit into the teen's head.

"HEY STOP!" Garrett cried out, squirming out of the tabby's grip, "CHANCE STOP!" He cast a pleading look for help at Jake but that tom just chuckled and shook his head in amusement. Chance just gave one more quick grind then released the teen, still laughing. Garrett retaliated by giving the tabby a playful punch to the arm then rubbed his slightly sore head, "Jerk." He mocked playfully.

"So, your gonna be alright then? Got all this sad stuff out of the way?" Chance asked causally but still looked concerned.

Garrett sighed and nodded his head. "Yea. I feel much better now." Then an idea crossed his mind. "Mind if I ask a small favor?" he asked, giving the tabby innocent eyes.

Both toms studied the teen with curiosity and caution. Chance nodded. "Uh, sure what is it?"

Garrett crossed his legs tailor fashion on the ouch. "Um, could you teach me how to fly?" he asked brightly.

Chance blinked at him in astonishment. "Well, gee...uh...you're really not big enough or old enough to handle a jet...a small plane perhaps...but a jet can do a lot of high g's and those take an adults body to handle. You also require flight simulator training before you ever step foot in one. I can offer you a ride if you like but flying one...no," he said apologetically.

Garrett groaned in disappointment, ears lowering until Jake put a paw on his shoulder to get his attention. "You may not fly a jet yet but as for a simulator...well...I betcha I could put one together, no problem...it might be a lot of fun and you'll get a lot of practice. What do you say?"

"Wow! That would be so awesome!" Garrett said, grinning from ear to ear in excitement. "Can I help you build it?"

"Sure. That would be great. We'll have to search the salvage for what we need first," Jake said, smiling. "Maybe we'll have time this weekend." He scratched the kit's head and Garrett purred, unconsciously nuzzling into the tom's paw.

Chance chuckled, "Okay, now you're acting like a kitten." He received a mock glare from the teen.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a few more months had passed, things were easier among them and Garrett felt better being a part of what the guys did, often critiquing the things he saw. During that time, the adults noticed the teen had put on a couple more inches and a great deal of muscle acquired from all the training they put him through. He finally managed to drop Chance to the mat, not to mention lift Jake into the air. Now they really did look like twins as Garrett's increase in height now put him at the same level as Jake. He was also more agile than the adults, doing the obstacle course in ten minutes less than Jake's best.

Jake kept his promise and built the simulator and Garrett spent a great deal of time on it. It was a blast as well as informative. Jake had outdone himself when he programmed it. There were barrel rolls, flips, sharp turns, and upside down maneuvers that had his head spinning.

However, it wasn't as easy as Garrett thought it would be. Very much unlike a video game. He actually crashed the virtual jet no less than seven times just trying to take off, much to his disappointment. But Chance encouraged him and said he'd done just as poorly when he began his training. It would simply take time and practice.

It was now late April and the talent show was nearing. Garrett had been so busy, he'd not thought about it at all, so still didn't hadn't figured out what he planned to do for it. He almost wanted to just skip it but his friends would be disappointed and be short a person in the competition. He couldn't do that to them. He really wasn't too bad at singing though his voice was still going through the change as most males did. He was much better at singing soft songs, less likely to squeak and embarrass himself.

To give him more confidence, Rebecca had been making him practice with her. She made him do endless scales and hold notes at different pitches for several minutes though careful not to strain his vocal chords.

Just before this weekend, he got up the courage to ask her over to his place for practice and was thrilled when she accepted. He was nervous on Saturday, cleaning his room after a days work in the garage so it would be nice when she came over. Knowing how important this was for Garrett, Jake and Chance tidied up the living spaces too, which he greatly appreciated.

It was a nice day and he was full of nerves waiting for her. Her father dropped her off, giving him the warning eye for a moment before leaving her. Then he escorted her through their place to his room.

She gave him her usual big smile and was dressed in a comfortable pair of slacks and a scoop necked top. She carried a folder containing sheet music in one paw while in the other she had an ipod with a speaker connected to it. As she entered his room, she was impressed at how clean it was and how well organized.

"Nice room," she remarked stepping toward the bed and sitting down.

He closed the door then took a seat a little from her on the bed.

She had opened the folder and took a out a few sheets and laid them on his bead, spreading them out, "Okay, I've got two songs that your voice can handle without straining. Since it'll be your first time on stage and it can get a little hot up there, we wouldn't want you getting strep trying to do too much."

Garrett nodded nervously, looking down at the music she was indicating. "So, what did you choose?" he asked.

Smiling, Rebecca said, "I thought 'Mine' to start off with then 'Fireworks'. After you give them a go, we'll know which will suit you best. Sound okay to you?"

He nodded and they were soon launching into the first of the two songs. They practiced for about an hour and a half before taking a break.

"Not bad, Garrett. You did go a little flat toward the end there on Fireworks but you'll get the hang of it soon enough," she complimented him, making blush with pleasure.

"Thanks." He scratched his neck nervously.

"Um, would it be to much trouble if I got something to drink?" she asked, hesitantly, a little nervous.

Garrett could have kicked himself. Of course she would get thirsty doing this. "Oh, certainly. Follow me and we'll see what's available.

"Sure."

He lead her down the hall to the living room which was empty and on into the kitchen. The guys were keeping out of sight to allow him the privacy he wanted. They must be in the hanger, he thought.

"For being located in a salvage yard, this place is nice and homey," she said, mildly, looking around.

"Thanks, we like to think so," he said then opened the fridge and peered in. "So...we've got milk Root Beer, orange juice, and, of course, there's water." Looking over his shoulder, he asked, "What's your pleasure?"

"Water's good."

"Okay." He reached in and pulled two bottles of water out and shut the door, handing one to her then chugging his own.

"Thanks." She twisted the top off taking a sip, she couldn't help but stare at Garrett's arm when he took a sip causing it to flex showing how muscular he was, something she'd not noticed before now. She turned away hiding her blush. 'Wow.' She thought.

Garrett twisted the cap back on, "Hey, how about we take a break for a bit, we could go walk around the yard if you want?" he surprised himself at making such an offer.

Rebecca looked thoughtful, "There's certain a lot of yard out there..." She looked rather dubiously.

"Well, we don't have to walk, I've got something much more fun to use. Jake and I fixed up this old ATV to use to get around the yard quicker. It's really fun...wanna give it a go?" He said excited, eyes bright.

She couldn't help but blush at his sudden boldness. The idea of riding in an ATV sounded like fun. Her ears perked up with interest but she was still a little nervous. "I guess we could," giving him a huge smile.

Grinning back at her he lead her downstairs. He looked around, hoping the guys weren't in the hangar then relaxed when he heard noises not far off, outside in the yard.

They found the two near a pile of salvage. Apparently they'd found something they wanted and Chance was using an arc welder to cut away some metal.

"Hey Guys!" The teen yelled to reach them through the noise they were making. They stopped their work to look over at them questioningly.

"Mind if Rei and I used the ATV around the yard?"

Jake scrunched his face in thought then looked at his partner; Chance sighed then nodded. "Go ahead but use helmets," he said sternly.

"We will, thanks." Garrett went back inside and pulled a set of keys off a rack on the wall. He picked up two helmets sitting on a shelf then carried it all back to Rebecca, handing her one of the helmets.

"Be careful!" Jake shouted. Garrett just gave him a thumb's up to show he'd heard then led her to where the ATV was kept.

They made their way to a small shed that housed the ATV. He opened the doors and looked at the bright green all terrain vehicle. Looking behind him, he noticed Rebecca was looking a bi nervous. "Hey, it's okay. I've driven this a lot and I we won't go fast," he reassured her. She blushed and smiled back.

'Now isn't this something. Usually, it's him that's nervous,' she mused, a bit annoyed with herself but pleased he was being so confident and less shy for once.

Before climbing on the ATV, they put on their helmets then Garrett mounted and turned on the machine. He revved it a couple of times, then looked at Rebecca, waiting for her to climb on too, behind him. She was still a bit nervous about this form of transport as she timidly placed a paw on his shoulder then climbed aboard, moving her paws to his waist to hold on securely. Garrett had to admit, she felt really good there.

"Ready?" he looked over his shoulder, seeing her nod he revved the engine causing it to shoot out of the small shed.

Rebecca yelped, wrapping her arms more tightly around him. Realizing he'd scared her, he shouted, "Sorry, Rei!" without turning around which would have scared her even more.

Rebecca laughed and shouted back, "it's okay, just startled is all." Pressed against his back, she couldn't help but blush even more at the feel of the tom's hard muscles; Garrett blushed a little too at her closeness but kept his concentration on the dirt road.

It had been a fun trip and it didn't take long for Rebecca to relax and enjoy it. They finished their day with more singing until it was time for her to leave. All in all, it had been a fantastic day.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The night of the talent show arrived at last and Garrett was rehearsing some last minute lines backstage. His stomach was in knot's from nerves and fear of performing before a large audience.

He was dressed in a gray shirt with a western-themed and unbuttoned over shirt matched with a pair of black boot cut jeans and white tennis. He touched the necklace that had belonged to his father for good luck and around his wrist was the checkered wristband from his mother.

A gray paw gently touched his shoulder, making him look around. Rebecca's blue eyes stared in his for a moment. She wore a white dress that went down to her ankles with a pair of cowboy boots.

He couldn't help the blush that crept into his face when he thought how beautiful she looked.

"Nervous?" she asked softly. Garrett chuckled lightly.

"Yeah, you could say that," he said, smiling wanly at her.

She pulled him to his seat beside hers and said soothingly, "Jake, Chance and Matthew are out there rooting for you as are all the members of our club. We'll do just fine don't you worry."

Warmed by her supportive words, he nodded and the two them practices together.

Jake and Chance along with his parent's were seated in the audience. Sitting with an empty seat between them and Jake was Matthew and his wife. The empty seat was for Garrett when he finished his performance.

Chance was looking over his camera, insuring it was ready. He'd already taken some test shots of the stage.

"Still love taking pictures, eh son?" His father's soft accented voice asked. The tom was a bit broader than Chance with iron gray hair on either side of his head. He had fine age lines around his warm brown eyes but despite his age, he still carried himself ramrod straight as he'd been taught while in the Enforcers.

Chance chuckled, "What can I say, I love taking pictures."

His mother, Rita giggled, "You always did love photography class." Then sighed and looked toward the stage expectantly. "I can't wait for Garrett's performance. He and Rebecca looked so cute together."

Jake snickered, "Well don't tell him that or he'll blush so red it will actually show beneath his red fur."

Rita just laughed again. "Oh, he'll get over it. He needs to know they do have a solid connection between them."

Her husband, Thomas chuckled, "Honey, you read way to many crappy romance novels."

Rita leered at him, swatting him across the head, "It wouldn't kill you to pick up a book every once in a while Thomas!"

Thomas shook his head in amusement, "Heh, reading is for she-kat's with too much time on their paws, besides I wouldn't have a chance to look at you all day." He gave his wife a flirty smile.

"Don't start with me," she playfully mocked him.

Chance shook his head at his parent's antics while taking another snapshot. He glanced over at his partner and asked, "when did your parent's say they were coming home?"

"In a about a few weeks. They wanted to make it back for Garrett's birthday," Jake responded. He remembered what his mother had said when he'd sent her a picture of Garrett. She remarked at how much the teen looked like Jake. They couldn't wait to meet him.

The curtain closed on the act preceding Garrett and Rebecca's, then the school principal returned to the stage. Adjusting his glasses, he announced the next contestants. "Next up we have a country duet performed by Garrett Gibson and Rebecca Cornerstone." He exited the stage and the curtain slowly parted.

Garrett stood there holding a microphone in his paws as was Rebecca who stood right beside him. Behind them were Molly on acoustic guitar, sitting on a stool, Kelly on drums with Conner playing electric guitar. Molly opened the song by strumming her guitar. The audience cheered as the opening bars told them what was going to be played.

Rebecca took a breath and began to sing, "You were at college, working part-time waiting tables, left a small town and never looked back." She looked at Garrett and smiled.

"I was a flight risk, with a fear of fallin, wondering why we bothered with love, if it never lasts." Garrett sung softly, his voice a little rough.

"I say can you believe it? As we're lying on the couch." Rebecca piped smoothly.

"The moment I can see it, yea, yea, I can see it now." He held back the chuckle at the slight fake southern accent he managed.

They faced each other and sang, "Do you remember, we were sittin' there, by the water?" Garrett stopped for Rebecca's part, "You put your arm around me for the first time." She lowered her microphone, while Garrett raised his, "I made a rebel of a careless man's careful daughter, you are the best thing that's ever been mine."

Jake and Chance were smiling at the pair. Chance took snapshot while Jake recorded with his video camera, not missing a moment of this performance. They were proud of him and thought him and Rebecca were pretty good.

Matthew was grinning broadly and hugging his wife, very proud at this moment of Garrett. Chance's parents cuddled a bit as they listened. Rita rested her head on her husband's shoulder and admired how well the pair of young people looked together.

The pair on stage reached the finale. "Do you believe it?" the two sung together, "Were gonna make it now, and we can see it, Yes, yes, we can see it now, see it now." They both trailed off together finishing the song as it echoed across the auditorium, staring in each other's eyes, smiling.

The auditorium burst into applause, Garrett saw Jake and Chance and his parent's standing up along with Matthew and his wife clapping with everyone else. He and Rei took their bows along with the rest of the group then they stepped back so the curtain could close. Only when the audience couldn't see them anymore did they quickly pick up their equipment and cleared the stage for the next act.

Rebecca pecked Garrett's cheek, making him glow as red as a tomato, "You did great out there Garrett!" she looked at Conner, Molly and Kelly, "You guys did too!" she hugged both the girls and pecked Conner on the cheek as well.

Garrett ghosted a paw over the place were she'd kissed him, feeling his heart race a little. His thoughts were snapped to the present when a paw was extended in front of him.

"You did great out there today." Conner smiled lightly, which surprised Garrett a little. He accepted the paw, giving it a firm shake.

"Thanks, you did too."

After congratulating Molly and Kelly, the three left leaving just him and Rebecca backstage with other kittens who were preparing for their acts. He walked over to Rebecca who was picking up her purse.

"Hey."

Rebecca turned and smiled at Garrett, "Hey, You were amazing out there Garrett, I know I said that already but I wanted to be sure." She giggled.

Garrett blushed at the kind words. "Thanks, I just wanted to let you know, I was gonna sit with Jake and Chance…unless you want me to stay."

Rebecca giggled at his shyness, "Nah, you don't have to, I was gonna sit with my parents." She hugged him tightly before letting go. "I had a lot of fun singing with you." She winked slyly at him causing him to blush yet again.

"Yea. Me too." He chuckled lightly.

They parted ways and headed for their families. Garrett scanned the auditorium for a second until he spotted Jake and Chance; he hurriedly walked to them before the next act began, taking the seat between Jake and Matthew.

He felt an arm drape over his shoulders, "You did great out there kiddo, I'm proud of ya." Jake smiled.

Matthew smiled as well and said warmly, "So am I. You two were spectacular, I wish your parent's were here to see it." Garrett smiled warmly at the words; he knew without a doubt his parent's were with him, he ghosted a paw over his necklace and wristband.

He and Rebecca came in third place which wasn't bad in his opinion. It was fun if a bit nerve-wracking. Chance and Rita pressured him into having his picture taken with Rei.

"Oh you two look so cute!" Rebecca's mother chirped her camera flashing in their face. Both teens blinked the black spots the glare caused in their eyes. Garrett could clearly see that Rebecca's dad was giving him a suspicious glare for putting his arm around her waist. Chance was taking snapshots of his own as was Rita and Matthew. He never felt more embarrassed in his entire life but Rebecca seemed to enjoy the spotlight.

After taking more pictures of them with the rest of the club members, they all said their goodbyes and headed off for home.

Chance and Jake along with Chance's parents and Garrett went back to the salvage yard for dinner. Matthew had to regretfully decline because of work much to Garrett's disappointment but there was enough people on paw to make a pleasant evening.

While Rita and Garrett made dinner, while everyone else watched TV. When they sat down at dinner, it was then that Garrett learned Chance's father had been an Enforcer pilot. Chance had followed in his father's footsteps. His father, however, was outraged at what Feral had done to his son.

He ranted a good bit before his wife managed to derail some of his ire when she asked Garrett how living with the two toms was going. Thomas was just as interested and forgot his anger to listen to all the tales Garrett spun about living with Jake and Chance. He was glad it eased the rising tension from the other subject.

Thomas burst out into laughter at some of the things he heard. "We'll it wouldn't surprise me, considering you two look alike. But I can see a few of Chance's mannerisms in there too." He smiled lightly, at the blushing teen.

It was true Garrett did look very much like Jake now because of his rapid growth spurt. He was just as intelligent and more mature than his peers. And the part about Chance was true too, as he was a fan of comics and liked trains. So he agreed, he was the sum of both of them in many ways.

Jake mentioned his own parents would be returning in time for Garrett's birthday. The teen noticed that wasn't as happy an occasion as it should have been by the look on Jake's face. He remembered Jake having told him his family was wealthy, perhaps he had issues with them or something. He would have to ask the tom later.

After dinner they waved goodbye to Chance's parents, Garrett went to his room while the guys cleaned up.

He took a frame and mounted the award certificate inside it. He heard a knock on his door frame and looking over he saw Jake smiling and Chance leaning against the door jam.

He grinned at them. "Hey guys, some night huh?" He took the frame and hung it on the nail he'd put up earlier.

Jake walked in and patted Garrett on the shoulder. "It sure was and you did a great job." he looked up at the award and said, "you've come a long way from the shy kit we met when we arrived here. It was so nice to see you enjoying yourself and having so many friends."

Garrett chuckled, "Well, if it weren't for you guys, I still would be that shy kit that never talked to anyone." He hugged Jake smiling warmly, "Thanks," he whispered.

"You're welcome."

"Hey, I helped too." Chance fake pouted, joking with him.

Garrett laughed, "I know." He hugged Chance, "Again thanks for helping me out these past few month's…honestly I wouldn't think I be able to do it by myself." He placed his paws behind his back smiling.

"We're glad we were able to help and the three of us get along so well, with you having both mine and Chance's same interest's it makes working here not so bad, and we never would have had this opportunity to become the SWAT Kat's if you hadn't shown us that hanger. Odds are, we probably never would of found it because it's so well hidden." Jake reached into his back pocket and pulled out a triangular device.

"If ever you need us, or if someone is in trouble, you can call us with this." He placed the device in the teen's paws. "It's on a different frequency than Ms. Briggs," he added with a smile.

Garrett's eyes went wide. They were giving him a communicator. "Wow! Thank you. This is soo cool."

Chance laughed and added, "It has a tracking device in it, in case something were to happen to you, we would be there in seconds to rescue you."

Garrett was overwhelmed. Staring down at the device, which was smaller than Callie's, a feeling of relief came over him. With this he would not have to be afraid , his saviors would find and rescue him...always there when he needed them. What a wonderful thing.

But a stray memory of a vague figure from his dreams made him pause. "All is not over yet…" echoed through his brain. Perhaps summoning them wasn't good enough. 'I think I know what I have to do now,' he thought soberly. 


	16. Chapter 16: Birthday

ANOTHER SIDE

Chapter 16: Birthday

Garrett watched as the Turbokat raced down the runway and vanished from view. His gut was twisted in knots as he recalled the emergency call Callie had made moments ago about Dark Kat being on the rampage in some flying fortress that looked like something you'd see out of a si-fi movie.

As soon as they were gone, he raced to the giant TV Jake had installed on one of the hangar walls. He anxiously flicked it on and searched until he found a news bulletin. Ann Gora was on scene in the Kats Eye News Chopper.

What her camerakat was showing the audience was nothing short of a nightmare. His eyes widened in horror as he watched the giant fortress destroy seven Enforcer choppers at the same time with what looked like amped up laser cannons. At least it seemed to be much stronger and more deadly than anything the Enforcers had.

He tensed even more when the Turbokat flew onto the scene. He was concerned whether Razor had enough fire power to put the omega down without a lengthy battle. As he watched, Razor fired a missile down the throat of Dark Kat's cannon making it explode but there were four more cannons to deal with yet. But he needn't have worried as T-Bone zipped around avoiding being shot down as Razor disposed of the other cannons then they did something that scared him witless.

They blew a hole in the side of the fortress then went in, vanishing from view.

In his paws he held the communicator Razor had given him. He debated calling to ask what the heck they were trying to do but held off as he realized he could give their location away if they were sneaking around inside. 'What do you want to do, kill them? That's what calling them would do. Just chill out and trust them,' he told himself, anxiously but firmly.

Though it seemed like hours since the battle had begun, glancing at the nearby clock, it had only been twenty minutes before the huge fortress exploded, creating a trail of black smoke as it plummeted in a spiral toward the ground.

Garrett clutched the communicator tightly until his fingers turned white. Where were the SWAT Kats? Did they make it out in time? He barely heard Ann Gora describe the scene.

"As you can see, Dark Kat's fortress has been badly damaged and is plunging for the bay. Looks like the SWAT Kats succeeded in taking the omega out but where they? We've been watching and haven't seen them since they went inside the aircraft." Her words were a mixture of excitement and worry as her camerakat continued to pan the area searching for the distinctive jet.

Unable to stand waiting, Garrett pressed the call button on the comm more than sixteen times while praying they would answer. "Oh God, please...please be okay!"

On the TV he saw the huge aircraft nearly reach the water when something small and black whizzed away from the wreck just as the front end of Dark Kat's fortress reached the surface of the bay causing a huge spray of water then began to sink from view.

Apparently, the camerakat had seen it too and zoomed in to reveal... "It's the SWAT Kats!" Ann shouted into her mic. "They made it out safely!"

Garrett dropped to a chair nearby, his body limp with relief and feeling like crying. On screen, Ann Gora was still reporting the action, "For those who have just tuned in, this is Ann Gora of Kat's Eye News reporting that the threat of Dark Kat has been removed by the heroic efforts of the SWAT Kats. Dark Kat's huge flying fortress is sinking into the bay this very moment. I know I speak for all of us in Megakat City, that we're very glad the omega's rampage was ended before too many more people were killed or harmed. Let's switch to Hunt Spector for a report on the victims of this attack..." Suddenly the image of the bay changed to a scene of carnage and destruction where Dark Kat's attack had begun.

He stared blankly at the images without really seeing them for many long minutes before realizing Matthew, who worked in the area of the attack, might have come to harm. He quickly pulled out his cell phone and called his older guardian. He sighed in relief when he heard Matthew's voice assuring him he was unharmed, the attack wasn't as close to his place of work as the news people made it seem.

After speaking with the older tom a few minutes, Garrett hung up and completely relaxed. It had been a very draining experience. He returned his attention to the screen and winced at all the damage the TV cameras were showing. The ground reporter was saying hundreds were assumed dead and another reporter showed a small kitten wailing in distress, calling for his mother while in the arms of an Enforcer who was trying to comfort him. Nearby were many sheet covered bodies, one of them probably the kitten's mother.

That one scene touched something inside of Garrett, igniting a sudden fury of anger and frustration. Without thinking he grabbed a wrench off the floor and threw it at a nearby concrete wall, the sound of the impact echoed around the room. He stared at the chip in the wall he'd made, panting like a steam engine.

"God dammit…" he whispered then screamed, "GOD DAMMIT!"

He lunged off the chair and began storming around. He kicked over a metal bin of scrapped idea's, Jake had thrown out then heaved for breath trying to calm himself. "This can't be happening! While I wait to grow big enough and old enough to join the Enforcers, many are dying thanks to those omegas!" He paced around like a tiger in a cage. "I can't do this! I can't wait two more years. I've gotta do something now or I'll combust!"

Though he'd watched the slowly encroaching omega threat with some detachment before now, seeing that newly orphaned kitten had brought home to him that same feeling of helplessness he'd felt when his own parents had died and left him alone. And just like the kitten on TV, there had been nothing he could do about it. But he was older now, no longer that helpless kitten. He needed to do something about this danger now, not later. But how? He was trained but Jake had said he still needed the strength he would get from growing more. However, he could hold his own in most situations right now.

That gave him a brilliant idea. "Maybe I can do something. Maybe not on the scale that Chance and Jake can, but I'm not helpless. Of course they'd never approve of me becoming a vigilante." He frowned. 'Then I guess it'll have to be a secret, just like the one they kept from me for so long. Yea, that's the ticket. But how am I going to do this without a jet?' He was arguing with himself now as he paced restlessly back and forth.

"Hmm, well obviously I can't so what else can I use to get to scenes fast but keep out of the guy's view?" He thought about it hard. "There's the cyclotrons the guys use when the jet can't get them into certain places and I have helped them repair them lots of times. I know where Jake's plans are for them and for the glovatrixes." Suddenly a broad smile creased his face.

"Hell yes! I could build my own bike and weapons based on Jake's blueprints." Then he paused as he thought of a possible difficulty. "But how do I do this without them finding out? Also, I can't look like them or they'll know it's me, so another disguise is necessary."

His mind was racing over all the details of doing something under the radar of his sharp eyed guardians. "Well, the two of them don't know about my secret spot deep in the bunker. That should be perfect for me to hide what I'm up to."

When Garrett had been exploring the underground bunker, he'd come across a secure room that was password protected. It was located some distance from where Jake and Chance had gone exploring. He knew they hadn't gone in that direction or that deep into the complex because the area held no footprints in the thick dust that covered the floors. Normally, it would have his own footsteps and have been swept, but since the guys arrival, he'd not gone in that section for months.

The dust had settled again, so when he went to check his secret spot a few weeks ago, he noted his guardians hadn't gone there. Apparently, since they'd been busy with building the jet then becoming vigilantes, they no longer had time nor desire to explore further. That was a benefit for him because with a little fixing of the wiring and some other modifications he could make it so the guys never found it.

As he formulated his plans, he firmly refused to think about how furious his guardians would be if they discovered what he was going to do. "It's a small price to pay," he reassured himself. "I can't handle watching all those Kats get hurt any longer. Besides, being a vigilante or an Enforcer, both are equally dangerous jobs. The only difference is we have the better weapons." He smirked.

Shutting off the TV, his decision made, he felt much calmer now as he waited for their return. And less than ten minutes after his life changing decision, the familiar roar of the jet's engines came up from below than some minutes later, the jet itself appeared, riding on its turntable.

As soon as the turntable stopped when it was level with the floor of the hanger, Razor and T-Bone leaped out of the cockpit to the ground with ease and walked toward him.

Garrett didn't have to pretend how relieved he was to see them as he smiled warmly at the two who were congratulating each other. He shook his head at the way they were acting. It had been a harrowing mission but they acted like it was nothing but fun and work as usual.

Razor smiled at the teen as he removed his helmet and mask. "Hey kiddo, I see you got a little worried. The comm sounded like it was stuttering the way you kept pressing it. Thought I shouldn't bother to answer since being in person would make you feel better," he said, smiling understandingly.

"Yea, sorry we scared you but it was the only way to take out Dark Kat and though it might have looked like we weren't going to get out in time, trust us, we had plenty of time," Chance said, clapping the teen on the shoulder, warmly, his helmet and mask in his other paw.

Garrett chuckled lightly, "yea, I did get a bit worried, sorry." He rubbed his arm nervously and looked down at the floor.

Chance laughed. "What? You don't have enough faith in us?" he joked.

The teen looked up into the big tom's face and shook his head. "It's not that but sometimes what you guys do is truly terrifying," he said shrugging and trying to smile a little.

"Aw, we're sorry but perhaps you shouldn't watch the TV then so you won't be as worried," the tabby suggested, patting the teen on the back in understanding.

Then the two adults walked to their locker area to change to their coveralls. He had followed them to the doorway but not into the room. Blinking in confusion, he noted some trash bags in a corner of the room tied by a bit of rope.

'What the heck? Why keep trash in here or is that something else?' he wondered. He debated asking them but decided it wasn't really important. However, one thing did cross his mind. The guys had been acting a bit secretive lately, as if they were trying to hide something from him ... shaking his head, he let it go and followed them back upstairs to the garage.

After closing the garage for the day, they had dinner and settled in to watch some TV. Chance found an old superhero cartoon. The main character fought villains at night with his teenage sidekick. It sort of reminded him of the SWAT Kats and what he was planning to do except he wouldn't be their sidekick...more like their hidden support system.

The main character of the show reminded him of the figure with the dark voice in his dreams, who'd told him to confront the two about their secret then told him there was more for him to do. The dream figure was wearing a g-suit of black and gray, like he was trying to be one with smoke and shadows. He remembered the figure had the same fur coloring as Jake and himself, though he was definitely not like Jake in behavior.

'Perhaps that was what he was trying to show me...be a person in the shadows...would make a good name...Shadow. I like it.' He hoped he wouldn't regret his decision to do this but it beat sitting around here two more years watching his guardians risk their lives without back up. Well he would be that back up whether they approved or not.

'Turn about is fair play,' he mused, repeating something his father was fond of saying.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

The next morning at school...

"So, where should we show up for your birthday party?" Taylor asked, when the group met at art club.

Garrett made a face. "Um, Chance said we should have it at his mom's house, they have a pool built in their backyard. It would be better than the salvage yard."

Almost everyone perked their ears up at the word pool, "Awesome! I bought these cool swim trunks I've been wanting to wear," John said, excited.

Garrett chuckled at everyone's excitement about his party. It would be the first one he'd had as he wasn't a fan of celebrating his birthday at all. Matthew had thought it odd but hadn't pressed him however, the older tom did give him a card and money despite his protests. So, it was with trepidation that he handed out the invitations that Jake had insisted he make up.

"A sweet sixteen party, how exciting!" Kelly squealed accepting her invitation. "I can't wait until it's my turn." Garrett could only shake his head at all the to do she was making of it.

"Anything you'd really like for a present?" Rebecca asked, tilting her head to study him.

Garrett stared at her wide eyed, shaking his head quickly. "Oh no, no, you guys don't have to get me anything,." he insisted. Everyone gaped at him. Their looks plainly said, "you're joking, right?"

"Guess I'll have to call Jake and Chance then, to find out," Rebecca snorted, crossing her arms and casting a look over at Molly who grinned and nodded in agreement.

Garrett's jaw dropped, he wanted to protest but everyone made it plain they weren't going to listen to him so he stayed quiet. Groaning, he lowered his ears. They would be shocked to know he wasn't a fan of birthday parties in the first place, but Jake and Chance insisted this was a very important time in his life and a party was needed to celebrate it. He found it a bit odd that they were pushing so hard about it but he bowed before their wishes and promised himself to try and enjoy it.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Chance was letting Garrett practice his driving by ferrying them to his family's farm in the country. The teen pulled off the main road onto a dirt one that went a ways before reaching the decent sized farmhouse. He pulled in beside a black SUV in the driveway. There was a sedan and a big pickup truck parked there already. He suspected the SUV belonged to Jake's parents as he shut off the engine.

The tabby climbed out of the car carefully as he balanced a white box containing the birthday cake in his paws. Jake had already come over courtesy of his parents picking him up, so he could help set up the party. Garrett still felt it was a bit much for a simple birthday party for goodness sake.

They walked up to the front door and Garrett pulled the screen door open to allow Chance to walk inside without freeing his paw. He walked straight through the living room heading for the kitchen. Rita's back was to them as she stood at the stove cooking something that smelled delicious. Beside her, sitting on a bar stool, was a tom that look very much like Jake. Garrett correctly guessed this was Jake's father. He wore a pair of glasses perched on the end of his nose. On her other side was a big male that was Chance's father he remembered him from the talent show.

Chance placed the box with the cake in it on the kitchen table that was filled with all the trimmings for a party; soda, chips, barbeque wings, hot dog buns, etc.

"Hi Dad," he said, walking over to hug the big tom then turned to his mom to hug her from behind, "...mom..."

"Chance," his father said, hugging his son back. His mother just pecked him on the cheek as she was too busy to turn around. Stepping away from his parents, Chance nodded hello to the other tom. "Hi, Mr. Clawson...where's your wife?" He asked, shaking the tom's paw.

A small frown creased his pleasant face. "It's a pleasure to see you again Chance, I'm sorry about you and my son getting fired form the enforcers," he said, a bit uncomfortable about the subject.

"Oh please, don't worry about it Mr. Clawson that's water under the bridge and Jake and I have moved on. We're happy," Chance said truthfully. "Where's your wife?"

"That's good to hear, Chance. As for my wife, she and Jake are out back setting up the party table. Jake was grilling hot dogs when I was out there a few minutes ago," he said smiling, relieved he didn't upset the tom.

He was pleased the two toms got along so well. He was grateful to Chance for pulling his son, Jake, out of his shy shell. It was a much bolder and self asserted individual he saw today. He remembered a bit too late, he wasn't supposed to be bringing up that subject at all. Oh well, then he noticed the young teen standing quietly nearby eyeing him.

"Why hello there, you must be Garrett?" He smiled sunnily, studying Garrett a moment. "My, you really do look very much like my son. I could have sworn for a second it was he standing there." He laughed heartily.

Garrett chuckled, "Yea, I get that a lot, sir." He scratched the back of his head as he extended his right paw. "It's finally nice to meet you Mr. Clawson."

The older Clawson smiled. "Such politeness from someone your age, how refreshing." He shook the teen's paw firmly. "My wife, has been looking forward to meeting you all week."

Garrett remembered Jake telling him stories about his mother that reminded him very much of his own mom. Best description of both was, 'Perky', almost nothing could put a frown on their faces.

Speak of the devil, a slim she-kat in a green summer dress that screamed upper class walked in from outside followed by Jake who carried a plateful of cooked hotdogs. She had Jake's cinnamon fur and brown eyes, but what drew his attention was her long straight black hair that had a slight wave at its end which was at her waist.

"We'll put these in the microwave to stay warm," Jake said, passing close to Rita to put the plate in a black microwave sitting on a ledge nearby. This put him next to Garrett.

Mrs. Clawson gave the teen a bright smile, her heels clicking on the wooden floor as she came over to him but paused halfway and stared. An 'o' of surprise on her mouth. "Oh my, look at you." She continued forward and pinched Garrett's right cheek saying, "Oooh, you look so much like Jake." She gushed.

Garrett could only wince at being pinched while giving her a weak smile.

She reached out to touch his hair and marvel at it. "How beautiful, such wonderful hair. I remember when Jake grew his hair out one time during one of his little fazes...he looked so cute." Suddenly she gasped, "oh I must get my camera. I left it in the car."

Garrett rubbed his cheek and thought, 'he wasn't kidding that she was a bubbling personality.'

Jake cleared his throat, "Um, Mother…you promised you'd tone it down a little."

The slim she-kat hugged the teen, slightly lifting him off the ground. "Oh, but he's so cute! He's like a little you."

Garrett winced at how tight she was squeezing, completely surprised at how strong she was despite looking frail.

She put the teen back on the ground. He gasped for air. "Oh my, what gorgeous green eyes you have." She leant in close to his face to get a better look making Garrett uncomfortable enough to shrink down a bit, blushing madly.

"Uh…thank you?" he muttered nervously moving his head back slightly.

Trying to hide a smile, Jake put one of his paws on his mother's shoulder and shook it a little. "Mom, you promised." He gave her a stern look.

She blinked at him in surprise then stepped back, blushing sheepishly. "Oh, I'm sorry sweetie, he just looks so much like you I couldn't help myself." She smiled cheerily trying to look innocent.

Garrett cleared his throat. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Clawson." He extended his paw politely; the slim she-kat turned smiling warmly, "Oh you don't have to be so formal." She gave the kit a light motherly hug this time, he blushed. The warmth she showed him made him remember his mother and how much he missed her.

Jake sighed, shaking his head, "I've got most everything set up now. We just need to take the stuff here on the table out and wait for the guests to arrive." He turned to Garrett, smiling. "I know you're not big on this sort of thing but Chance and I wanted to show our appreciation for the way you welcomed us into your home and all you've done for us since."

Garrett just couldn't stop blushing. It was really nice of his guardians to want to show their appreciation by doing this and making him feel a part of a family again. It was a really nice feeling.

To end all the focus on him for a bit, he went to the table and picked up a bunch of soda bottles and went outside with them, followed by a grinning Chance and Jake carrying the rest of the stuff including the cake. As he set his load down on the festive table he looked around. Jake had outdone himself.

The huge picnic table was covered with a brightly colored tablecloth, a balloon bouquet held down by a silver pyramid weight, all said 'Happy 16th Birthday' on them and waved in the slight warm breeze. There were place settings of party hats and whistle blowers, and matching plates and cups. On a smaller table where Chance had set the cake still in its box, he noticed a neat pile of seven presents. Beyond the table was a fenced in area where a beautiful pool waited.

He sighed. 'Well that looks inviting and everything else looks fantastic but really, I wish they hadn't gone to all this trouble. Oh well, everyone should have a lot fun anyway,' he thought, resigned.

"What do you think?" Jake asked, grinning.

"It looks great." Garrett said, less than enthusiastic.

"Hey, lighten up, one would think you were going to a funeral," Chance snorted, giving the kit a smart smack on the back.

"No, honest, it looks great...just wished you hadn't gone to all this trouble is all," Garrett admitted.

Jake shook his head while Chance rolled his eyes. "Promise us you'll enjoy yourself even if it kills you?" Jake warned.

"I will." Garrett promised then hightailed it back inside before the two could do more to him.

He went to Chance's moms side and asked, "Do you need any help, Rita?"

She smiled at the teen. "If you want sweetie, but I say you should relax. After all it is your birthday." She patted his arm.

Garrett chuckled at this, "Cooking is my way of relaxing."

Shaking her head a little but still smiling she waved him close. "Fine then, you can start by making some icing for the cinnamon rolls that'll be done soon."

Smiling eagerly, Garrett went to the sink to wash his paws then grabbed the ingredients that waited on the table and began mixing it up quickly. The kitchen smelled heavenly with the odor of fresh cinnamon rolls. They happened to be his absolute favorite. He suspected Chance had told his mother that which was why she was making them despite them already having a cake. When he had the icing finished, he couldn't resist licking the spoon which earned him a goodnatured scolding from Rita.

As the last of the preparation were completed, Garrett's guests began to arrive each with a present in their paws. Chance directed them to where they could put them and soon the small table was burdened with brightly colored packages.

All his friends oohed and aahed at the sight of the decorated table, the food, and especially the pool. Introductions were made all around then lunch was served. After enjoying the hotdogs and chips, the kittens leaped into the pool and played for a few hours before getting out to enjoy cake and ice cream.

When everyone was pleasantly stuffed and sipping on soda, it was time for Garrett to open his presents. He dreaded this part but sat in the chair Jake pointed to that was beside the present laden table. With Chance taking pictures as well as Jake's mom, Garrett opened his first present.

Rita and Thomas bought him a new sketch pad with his name on it along with a few art supplies, the Clawson's went a little overboard, getting him a new phone with a touch screen, his friends crowded around him to study the cool high tech device.

Jake shook his head still nibbling on his cake slice, 'She just couldn't help herself,' he thought, amused. Chuckling lightly, he watched the teen show off his fancy phone. He was glad the kit was finally socializing more and starting to act like a normal teenager for once.

Told to move on with the other presents, Garrett opened the ones from Jake and Chance. They got him a diesel and a few cars for his train collection earning them a huge grin from the teen. His friends weren't sure what to get him but thought they'd be safe getting him more art supplies and gift cards.

All in all it was a birthday he wouldn't soon forget.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Next day...cross town...

Jake and Chance were reading magazines in the waiting room of the Megakat City Department of Transportation waiting for Garrett to take his driving exam.

Jake perked his head up as the door from outside opened and Garrett appeared holding the door for his test examiner. When he turned his head toward them, they could see the look of triumph on his face.

"You passed!" Jake cried, jumping to his feet, Chance being a bit slower to have noticed the kitten was back.

The elderly she-kat who had given Garrett his driving test smiled warmly. "Not a single mistake."

Chance smiled brightly at the blushing teen. "Way to go kiddo."

Garrett had an 'aw shucks' expression as he said, "it was no sweat."

The she-kat motioned for the teen to follow her. The adults followed as well but stayed back out of the way as the teen got paperwork done, paid his fee, then sat on a chair in front of a blue screen, smiling as they took his picture. After his license was printed, he held the plastic card in his paws, happy that he wouldn't need an older driver with him any longer when he wanted to go out.

'That's if they let me, that is,' he snorted to himself. This wasn't something he'd asked about yet so had no idea how they'd react the first time he decided to leave on his own. He was pulled from his thoughts by a blond paw waving a set of keys in his face.

"You drive."

Garrett grinned, taking the keys and leading the way out to the car.

Back at the garage, Garrett looked around and asked, "so, what's left to be done?"

Jake yawned, "Um, just two needing simple work." Jake pointed a claw at a blue pickup, "That one needs a new muffler and some tires and that one needs an air filter." He pointed at a black SUV.

Garrett cracked his knuckles. "Piece of cake. We'll be done in no time."

"Yea, slow day." Chance agreed.

The three headed upstairs and changed to their coveralls.

No other work came in by the time there shop normally closed. After work was done, they finished dinner and watched TV for a bit before Garrett decided to turn in early so he could think.

Saying good night, he went upstairs and went into his room, locking his door then turning on his lamp. Opening his closet, he bent over to pick up a metal box with a lock that he kept hidden in a dark corner of his closet floor. He didn't want his guardians to know about it.

Walking over to his bed, he opened his drawer on his night stand, pulling out a key. Sitting on the edge of the bed, he opened the metal container. Inside was filled with the blueprints, ones on the hangar schematics, some of Jake's ideas, and drawings of his own. He spread the contents on his bed to better look at them.

He picked on up a drawing of a G-suit he colored like the figure he saw in his dreams but it was modified a bit so he didn't look exactly like on of the SWAT Kats. His goal was to be the in the shadow of the SWAT Kats, unseen always, as he provided them the backup they so badly needed.

Smiling, he pulled another sheet free and studied it. He remembered the number of times he redid this image until he was finally satisfied. It was a modified and differently colored Cyclotron so no one would confuse it with the Jake's version.

For a moment, he felt a bit guilty for using Jake's ideas to do this but he shoved that aside. 'The whole point of this is to aid them so stop worrying about them getting pissed about pilfering his ideas. You need to stay safe so they won't worry and Jake's plans insure I do. Focus on your main goal of being their back up and above all, stay hidden,' he thought firmly to himself.  
As he collected the drawings to put them away, one caught his eye. It was a retractable weapon that could be used in close combat situations. Jake had trashed the idea as not being useful after finishing the glovatrix. Garrett, however, saw a use for it. The device could easily even the odds for him and work with his form of martial arts fighting. He grinned evilly at it before he tucked it away. With some modifications, it should be an exceptional asset in his plans.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

A few weeks later...Sunday...

The guys were out on patrol so Garrett used the time to continued work in his secret lair deep in the hangar. He had succeeded in making a false wall with a hidden door that was opened by voice activation. He had done such a great job on it that sometimes he couldn't remember where it was which meant it was perfectly hidden.

Today, he worked on the finishing touches to his g-suit. Stepping back, he admired his work. Though no tailor, he had to say it looked perfect. It looked like a perfect copy of his guardian suits with the special twin compartment carrier attached to the front of the suit that carried all their gear: masks, extra ammo, first aid, etc. But his was in black with gray piping instead of their blue and red. Also unlike them, he would wear a light body armor to protect his upper body as well as strong knee and elbow pads. His helmet was all in black and no emblem on it but there was one on each of his arms near the shoulders that was a wing symbol hugging an emerald. As the finishing touch he had special boots for his feet. He didn't particular like the fact Jake and Chance went about barefoot.

He'd had to be creative to make much of his equipment. The helmet was a normal Enforcer one, a newer model that had an interestingly different visor that was more crescent shaped rather than oval like the guys. It had a built in microphone like their's but he modified it, adding a voice modulator to it, making his voice deeper and older sounding. The body armor was ordered from a security supplier, the knee and elbow pads from a skateboard specialty shop, and finally, the short boots were all terrain hiking kind with steel toes built in from an outdoor equipment shop.

Yea, it was kick ass and now he'd have to make at least two more g-suits as he knew very well it could get ripped and torn when in use. Jake had made about ten suits a piece for him and Chance. It would take him awhile to do that but it had to be done. Meanwhile, just staring at his prototype made him feel excited and proud. He dubbed his new persona "Shadow".

Turning away from it finally, he went to his work bench and stared down at the beginning skeleton of his glovatrix and the retractable weapon along with the ammunition. It would take a few more weeks for him to have it all completed.

Looking away from the mess on the bench, he stared at the framework beginnings of his own Cyclotron. He sighed. That was going to take more time than the weapons to get together and running. But summer was nearly here and he would be able to spend more time on it. Sort of.

He still had to sneak around the guys though. That and still work in the garage. He scratched his head and rolled his eyes. Jeez, now he understood why it was so hard for the guys to keep up with everything and still get any rest. Here he was intending to do all this and keep it secret.

Maybe he should get his head examined, he thought, amused. Okay, so he just had to manage his time and make full use of the times the guys were gone...oh yea and don't forget your friends are going to want to drop in too...he sighed. I'll manage, I have to.

Looking at his watch, he realized the guys would be returning in about an hour. Time to stop ruminating and get to work. He chose to make more progress on his glovatrix. An alarm went off some time later reminding him time was up. Sighing, he stopped work and got up, stretching.  
Looking around the spacious room one last time, he liked how he'd managed to find this excellent work area. On the blueprints it was described as a private lab area. It was big enough to hold a small plane, perhaps two tanks, and a few cars. It certainly was big enough for what he had planned for it. He was very glad he'd found it before the guys had joined him, it was very handy now.

His final thought as he set the security on his secret work room was, "I'm not gonna sit watching while they risk their necks while I do nothing. I don't care if they find out and punish me or take everything I worked on away. I'll do it all over again and be back guarding their backs, they won't keep me away!" he promised himself.


	17. Chapter 17: The Beginning

**A/N: Hey guys sorry for this chapter taking so long, but the second one should be done here soon, I know this chapter may seem a bit boring but it's to finalize the beginning of chapters packed full of action! hope you like!**

**Another Side**

Chapter 17: The beginning

Garrett sat on the lobby couch, idly reading a book on how to learn and speak the Chinese language.

He looked over threw the glass on the window he saw them working on the last car that seemed like was coming in today, they told him they got this so he could chill out for a bit. Course he wanted to work but he decided to let them have there way seeing as he could use a break his arms were sore and figured he could catch up on his reading

Summer had begun about a week ago, he was hoping his friends would hangout but they all literally left for Family reunions, vacations…whatever for two to three weeks. So here he was stuck at home reading, he couldn't work on his Shadow project since Jake and Chance would most likely to find out what he was up to, if they saw him go down in the hanger right now.

**Flashback…Garrett three weeks ago**

The guys were out on night patrol as usual so now was the perfect time to work on his weapon's.

Garrett was perfecting the last gadget on his Glovitrix unlike there's being red and blue his was black and gray so it matched his costume. He lifted up the glove that he made for the left paw, "Finally!" he slipped it on flexing his fingers to see it was the right size; he already made two different test dummies for its second test run.

He picked up the retractable sword he finished a week ago, it was just a handle but with a press of a button it shot out metal rod, another pair of metal came out of the tip to form a C shape at the end, teeth popping out for extra damage.

He modified the version Jake made, making it for reverse grip fighting as was his preferred fighting style, the sword was light and a little short but strong.

He was gonna make a second one in case either he needed both weapon's or loses one, not only that he's going to have make more copies like he did with his G-Suit. He already made two suits he will need to make at least eight more copies in case his other suits got torn up, he sighed on how much work this needed.

He gripped the weapon tight, after selected the preferred ammo on his Glovitrix he fired a buzz-saw missile at the farthest target it hit his mark dead on sticking in halfway in the wooden target. He wasn't too bad of a shot thanks to Jake's expertise and training.

After seeing he could use the device without much use of his right paw he knew fighting would be a snap in case if he was unable to use the other paw, he gave his sword a few swings seeing how easy it is to swing.

Smiling triumphantly, after testing how well he can use his sword, it's been a while since he wielded a melee weapon but it was like riding a bike you never forgot how, chuckling to himself at the thought.

He thought about adding electrical damage to it but he couldn't find the necessary part's to do so, he'll have to work with what he's got until he finds the parts he needs. He looked at the now halfway done skeleton of his Cyclotron.

Putting his weapons back on the table, he walked over to the vehicle that wasn't even close to being done. Sighing inwardly he begin work on the vehicle listening to the small TV he installed in the wall to keep in eye on his guardians. Seems like there was a hostage situation going on at City hall, he worried for Miss. Briggs and the mayor he knew Razor and T-Bone can handle it, right now he had to keep working if he wanted to get out there soon.

'Just hang in there for a few more weeks guys, I'll be done soon.' He thought wiping some sweat off his brow.

**Present Day…**

Sighing inwardly on how close he is to going out on his first mission, the cyclotron is really close on being completed he can almost taste it, but now he has to wait for the right moment when he has time alone so he can complete the finishing touches.

At least he can think of ideas for "Shadow" he had an idea of something he learned from science class, explosive gel.

With it he can spray an explosive gel onto a surface witch would explode creating either a door or a trap, he couldn't help but smile evilly at the idea.

He also added a grappling hook to his Glovitrix witch he been secretly practicing with when Jake and Chance weren't around.

It was only a matter of time before Shadow would be sent out on his first mission.

Garrett closed his book and looked at the clock ten minutes till five, he needed to cook dinner here soon.

He got up from the couch towards the garage, "Hey guys I'm gonna cook dinner any thoughts?" he crossed his arms over his chest.

Jake looked up from the hood of the car while Chance slid from under the car to look at the teen both looking deep in thought.

Chance spoke up, "Hmm I would love your mom's famous Mondo Pepper soup again." He made a humming sound thinking of the delicious meal.

Jake perked at the idea, "Oh yea I would defiantly go for that!" smiling at the idea.

Garrett put on a disappointed face, "Uh, were out of Mondo Peppers and other ingredients for it…" The guys both frowned at this, "Now that I think about it we need to go out grocery shopping were running a bit low on other food too." Garrett added.

Chance groaned, "Aww I'm tired and hungry I really don't feel like going out right now." Jake had a similar expression, as his partner was obviously tired too.

Garrett got real thoughtful he had an idea it's a long shot but he's willing to try, "What if…I drove to the grocery store myself and pick up what we need?" he asked as casual as he could not to seem to eager to them.

They both looked at the teen eyes wide in surprise the kit talked to them about driving on his own but like most parents would do, they would worry not sure of seeing there kitten go by themselves.

"I mean it's not that far, I'm sure I can do it." Garrett added smiling.

Chance looked at his partner who usually does this kind of decision-making, "Jake?" he asked.

Jake thought about this, the grocery store was just ten minutes away from the salvage yard but he still wasn't sure if he was ready sure his driving was pretty good from his perspective, he needs some time on his own…he sighed.

"Fine."

Garrett grinned before he could talk Jake pointed a claw at him, "JUST to the grocery store and I expect you back here do I make myself clear?" he said in a stern but calm voice.

Garrett lightly chuckled, "No problem!" He grabbed the keys off the hook on the wall, his wallet already in his pocket he walked towards the sedan and Jake and Chance couldn't help but stand outside the door watching him go.

Garrett started the car he saw his guardians watching, he smiled slyly revving the engine twice just to make them nervous witch didn't please them Garrett chuckled as he waved at them.

"Both paws on the wheel!" Chance shouted witch got another laugh from the teen.

"I'll be back soon!" he hollered threw the window of the car. He drove the sedan out on the road towards Megakat City.

They both watched until he was out of sight, Chance looked at Jake seeing that look of worry, fear and sadness. Chance saw the same look on his mother when he first went out on his own.

He sighed placing a paw on his partner's shoulder, "He'll be fine." Chance smiled warmly.

Jake sighed, "I know…still can't believe how fast he's growing…seemed like only yesterday when we first met him." He placed his paw around his wrist looking out onto the dirt road towards the city.

"I know, he wouldn't have gone this far without us, we helped him threw so much, it's just kinda…tough to see him go." Chance frowned, "Feels like he's our own kit huh?"

Jake turned around walking back inside, "He is our own kit."

Chance blinked in surprise at Jake watching him walk back into the garage, 'wow…didn't realize how much the kit had an effect on him.' He smiled warmly looking back out towards the yard.

He thought about what Jake said, 'He's right, he is like our own kit course he's more like Jake then me.' He lightly chuckled, he thought living here would be the worst thing in his life but with Garrett, Jake and the Swat Kats he was almost glad he was off the enforcers…almost.

He gets to fight crime his way and have something as close to having a kit of his own passing down teachings from his dad to him, he was thrilled that he gets to teach Garrett how to fly a jet who knows when he's older he might give him a run for his money when he joins the enforcers.

His smile grew wider; he thought Garrett could be one of his greatest challenges to come some day.

And he looks forward to it.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Jake sighed inwardly wiping a paw over his face he was exhausted from there fight with the past master sending them back in time till they managed to get out in time by using the volcanic gas to power the jet.

But one thing was keeping up on this gloomy night; a flash of lighting lit the night sky along with a loud boom witch caused Jake to jump.

He lightly cursed at still having a slight fear of lightning he thought going down into hanger to take his mind off the storm would help but he was so tired he couldn't get off the couch so he settled on some forensic show to put him asleep but so far it wasn't working.

'Damn storm.' He thought sulking in his seat.

Course this was nothing compared to one of the past masters portals inside he was scared of the outcome of today but he tried not to show this fear to his partner he had to hide the still lingering small fear of lightning and thunder storms.

Another flash of lightning caused him to flinch he grabbed a blanket off the top of the couch and wrapped himself around it.

He sighed, "How can they sleep threw this?" he asked himself.

Garrett looked at the ceiling with a slight annoyed look, 'damn storm.' He pulled the covers off with a gruff grabbing a white undershirt off the floor next to his bed.

He looked at his alarm clock it in bright red numbers it was two fifteen, after he slipped on the t-shirt, he had a quick trip to the bathroom then headed to the living room to grab something to drink.

He approached the door but he saw light hitting the wall as if someone was watching TV, 'he would be up at this hour?' he quietly pressed against the wall to peer inside the room.

He was surprised it was Jake a flash of lightning caused the cinnamon tom to jump and shake a little, Garrett frowned remembering that Chance told him he use to be scared of lightning but still jumps when it's bad.

The cinnamon tom didn't notice him standing next to the door frame, Garrett finally decided to speak after another flash of lightning, "Jake?" he asked quietly.

Jake looked up at the voice, "Garrett?" he blinked in surprise, "What are you doing up?"

Garrett smiled lightly, "Storm kept me up…I take it's the same with you?" he tilted his head slightly chuckling.

Jake put on a fake smile, "You could say that." He wrapped the blanket tightly around him looking out the window watching the rain pound the window.

Garrett decided to sit next to him forgetting about getting some water then returning to bed, he looked at Jake for a second he knew that something was bothering him and he knew what it was.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

Jake smiled lightly looking at the teen in the eye, "I'm fine I just can't sleep is all."

Garrett frowned he knew that was a lie, "Jake…your still scared of thunder storms…are you?"

Jake looked at Garrett with slight surprise, 'how did he know…Chance must of told him…' "I…" he didn't know what to say he didn't want to lie to Garrett but he be a hypocrite if he did.

He told Garrett that a fear like he had would cripple him with the enforcers it almost did the same with him with the past masters portal back in time.

He sighed looking at his feet, "Yea kinda…" feeling a little ashamed admitting this to someone other then Chance.

Garrett gave Jake a sympathy look, "I know how you feel…facing your fear really sucks doesn't it?"

Jake nodded.

"To be honest, I still haven't completely gotten over my fear of water, I still get nervous when I get near it." Garrett chuckled nervously.

"Mm…" Jake mumbled.

Garrett smiled lightly, knowing that Jake was a little embarrassed, he grabbed Jake's arm and placed it around his shoulder keeping a hold of it.

Jake looked at the teen in slight confusion, Garrett looked up at Jake and smiled "Look, I know it's embarrassing to talk about this sort of thing, believe me I know, but you don't have to be embarrassed about it, you told me so."

Jake lowered his ears, remembering what he told Garrett about fears being one's weakness, Garrett continued. "But with a fear like that, it's gonna cripple you when you and Chance are flying around as the Swat Kats, I learned in Physiology to get over a fear like this is either do what you did by standing out in a storm or have someone with you get threw it." He saw Jake had a perplexed look on his face, "And since you tried the first method before I'll be here to help you threw it, just like you did with me with water." He held Jakes arm a little tighter.

Jake was surprised, feeling touched at the kind words, only his parents and Chance would go out of there way to help him, he smiled warmly scratching the kits head with his other paw, "You're a good kit you know that?"

Garrett purred at the touch, "Well it helps I been raised by too loving parents and two amazing brothers."

Jake smiled wider, but jumped at the sound of a loud thunder crash, Garrett laid his head on Jakes shoulder calming the cinnamon tom down.

Jake took a deep breath trying to calm himself; he looked at the kit already starting to fall asleep, 'What did we ever do to deserve a kit like him.' He mused smiling lightly as his eyes started feeling heavy.

Jake pulled the blanket around them both seeing, as the storm wasn't really much of an issue anymore. All he needed was a distraction when he's up in the air as Razor he watches his radar and weapons systems to distract his mind from the storm but having nothing to distract him down here was a problem but now with Garrett here that wasn't an issue anymore.

Garrett started to purr as he exhaled meaning he was already asleep, Jake shook his head chuckling lightly, 'For someone who just turned sixteen he still acts like a kitten.' He mused feeling his eyes closing then he too fell asleep.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

**A few weeks later**

After finally completing his weapons and Cyclotron then putting them threw test runs while the guys were out he knew he was finally ready to launch "Operation: Shadow."

But some weapon's and one vehicle is not enough he knew he's gonna need more weapon's and possibly another type of vehicle in order to keep in battle shape wise, he snuck off with more of Jake's old blueprint's seeing what he could whip up.

Some of Jake's idea's seem like a neat idea to have like a jet ski for water mission's, a Sand rover for the desert area and a hover car for…whatever but one thing did cross his mind sure Jake had a lot of cool idea's but he couldn't help but think why not make a car?

Not just any car a car built just for him, he remembered that time he and Chance watched some old superhero cartoon's which reminded him of his persona he hides in a cave with his butler and teenage sidekick fighting crime from omega's that try to destroy the city. He really liked the hero's car, as it was super fast and can shoot out missiles like there jet.

Garrett's eyes went wide, 'What if that could be my Turbokat?' of course while they handle air support he can cover the ground with a car with his own design, with bullet proof armor but just light enough for it to speed along the road perfectly.

But there are some drawbacks, one he would have to find another Rader Jammer as the one he already found was installed in his bike, two it's gonna take a lot of work and wielding and not only that he's gonna have to get better at driving maybe he'll ask Jake and Chance for defensive driving practice. He knew out in that salvage yard there's a car out there just waiting to be built in fact he knew just the car to do the trick.

There was an old sedan out near the side of the yard that they dumped a few months ago when the engine went out on it, all it needed was some modifications and some heavy duty armor for protection, for once he made an original idea.

It wouldn't be hard to tow it down here since that's what this room was made for and it was next to the runway so not only could he get it down here without Jake and Chance noticing he could also drive it out in a flash and out into the city.

The gears in his mind were grinding as he was working, now that his basic requirement's were complete he can now add some more modification's to his bike, he added a radio so he could listen to enforcer frequency and the Swat Kat's without them knowing.

If Jake wouldn't be pissed on him doing something like this behind his back he would of been proud, he instantly frowned then sighed, he could image them yelling at him for doing something so stupid and dangerous behind there backs.

He shook away those thoughts, "No, they need my help, they can't do this alone I have the training…the knowledge and soon to be the weapon's I need to fight." He stuck his screwdriver back inside the component of his bike continuing his work, "If they can do it…then so can I." with determination, he concentrated on his work.

Garrett spent two more weeks on his project behind his guardian's backs he managed to get that old sedan down into his lair to work on but set it aside for his main priority was to get Shadow out there for he had a feeling something was gonna happen soon.

After tiring weeks of working Garrett finally managed to complete project Shadow, already having his gear made to last him a while and making a couple of suits in case his first one got torn.

Garrett sighed loudly as he slouched into his work chair, looking at all his progress before him.

His Cyclotron that he dubbed, "The night wing" it looked similar to the Swat Kats cyclotron but was black and gray and built with a silent runner so he could glide threw the streets silently if needed. The blue wings on the back of the cyclotron were black and had a more bat like wing design rather then straight blue like theirs.

He made a explosive gel that he would use to get inside structure's thanks to his science class for giving him the idea, and other basic gadgets the swat kats use to level the playing field, some of his weapons are lethal but most of them were to help rather then kill since he was only hero support.

It kinda sucked that the Swat Kats would take all the glory but he didn't care that much all he wanted was to help his guardians and made sure they had the support they needed.

He practiced around with the obstacle course Jake and Chance built inside the hanger keeping him and his reflexes in shape, he still had more work to do but he was ready to get out there and help the Swat Kats as Shadow.

Garrett reached out onto his worktable to pick up his helmet; looking at his reflection threw the lens he saw how much he looked like Jake despite his black hair and green eyes but inside he was like Chance he was like the both of them. That's why he wanted to do this, he didn't want to lose them as he did with his parents, he couldn't do anything when his parent's were killed but now he had a chance to help his guardians, and nothing was gonna stop him.


	18. Chapter 18: The Giant Bacteria

**A/N: I just wanna say thank you CSI Kat R for beta this story while my other beta is away, means a bunch :) hope guy enjoy this chapter! some action for once! :D**

**Another Side**

**Chapter 18: The Giant Bacteria**

Garrett sighed as he stepped out of the shower wiping his hair with his towel, Callie's car was pinging it was no problem fixing it but Chance wanted to tune it up by attaching turbo plugs into Callie's engine.

Jake said it wasn't a good idea, but Chance didn't listen Garrett was in the engine making sure everything was working properly and tightening any loose bolts. He cleared his paws away from the driving belt but when he revved the engine, it exploded causing Garrett to have a few singe marks and black stuff all over his face. Therefore, he had to take a shower. Not to mention Chance getting an ear full from Jake for doing something so irresponsible.

He chuckled lightly at Jake being over protective; once he finished drying off then slipped on a pair of jeans and a red aero postal t-shirt, seeing how there weren't gonna be anymore cars he decided not to change into his mechanics uniform.

He walked downstairs seeing Jake working on the engine and Chance looking at the TV with a dreamy look on his face.

Garrett walked next to the pair seeing what Chance was staring at, it was the news showing Mayor Manx and Callie next to something covered with a tarp at Megakat Park, Garrett looked to his left and noticed a big pile of scrap in front of the garage, his tail twitched with annoyance.

"I see Dumb and Dumber came by while I was out," he said hopping himself onto a work bench.

Jake huffed, "Yea, once were done with Callie's car were gonna clean it up, depending if Chance will take his eyes off the TV." he looked at his partner with a irritated look on his face but Chance didn't pay any mind to it.

Garrett rolled his eyes; his thoughts were at the TV screen wondering what Callie was up to.

"As Mayor of Megakat City, I am proud to dedicate this beautiful new park, witch bears my name." Mayor Manx finished his speech the tarp covered a statue of himself the crowd applauding at the structure.

Garrett shook his head then rolled his eyes, 'Narcissistic much?' he mused, he turned his head to the sound of Chance sighing.

"Ah that Callie sure is pretty." He said in aw causing Garrett and Jake to roll his eyes.

"Yeah but she'll be pretty mad if we don't get her car fixed." Jake said in as of matter of fact tone, causing Chance to snap out of his thoughts to continue there work.

Garrett chuckled at this, 'Jake sure knows how to knock some sense into him.' He thought to himself, he turned his attention back to the TV.

Ann Gora was looking at the camera microphone in paw, "From the new Manx Municipal Park, This is Ann Gora for Kat's eye news." Ann Gora looked to her side eyes wide with shock, "What in the…!" she gasped pointing at some gross arm coming out of the sewer, Garrett gasped at what he was seeing, "Quick get a shot of that!" she ordered her camera man.

It was giant four eyed creature coming out of the sewer, Garrett never seen anything like this before, he noticed his guardians didn't notice the TV, "GUYS!" Garrett shouted causing his two guardians to jump.

Jake looked at the teen with wide eyes, "What's wrong?"

"It's Callie! She's in danger!" Garrett said, franticly pointing at the screen.

Jake and Chance both looked at the screen finally seeing what's going on, the monster was stomping towards the mayor's limo the cameraman caught the site of the two city officials screaming at the creature.

They watched Callie speed threw the monster destroying it, Garrett lowered his shoulder's thinking it was over but to his shock, it grew into two monsters. 'No way…' he thought.

Jake and Chance growled a look of determination; "Let's hit it!" they both hauled towards the hatch closing it behind them.

Garrett watched his guardians go as he shut the garage door, his attention back to the TV he saw the two monsters destroy the limo luckily the mayor and Callie got out in time.

He saw what happened when Callie destroyed that thing with her car it turned into two, he looked down at his feet, thinking about his decision to go out and help them, those things reminded him of science class about how bacteria can multiply if split up into parts.

He knew they needed his help they needed ground cover but he was going to have to do it without being seen but how. He perked his head up he looked at the hatch then out the window seeing the Turbokat fly out into the sky, Garrett had a serious look on his face as he watched the black bird fly out towards the city.

"It's time."

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

As the two giant creatures devoured the mayor's limo, Callie and Manx jumped out of the vehicle narrowly avoided being eaten.

An enforcer helicopter hovered above them dropping a latter, Callie grabbed the rope latter but the mayor pushed her out of the way causing her to fall, Callie growled under her breath but said nothing.

She grabbed on the latter lifting her up in the air, the creature swiped at her but just barley missed her foot.

The Mayor and Callie climbed their way inside the chopper, Feral glanced behind him seeing the trembling mayor made him grumble, "Relax, Mayor. The enforcers are here, now!"

Callie looked out into the sky seeing the familiar black and red Jet she smiled wide, "So are the Swat Kats!"

The Swat Kats flew there Jet threw the sky, Razor noticed Callie in the enforcer chopper safe and sound, "Looks like Callie's safe."

T-Bone scoffed, "Not the way Feral flies."

"Back off, you Vigilantes! The authorities are handling this! Fire on my order!" he ordered his men to go in for the attack.

Razor placed his breather mask over his face so he can communicate with Feral, "I don't think that's a good idea, Feral. We saw what happened when Callie hit it!" he explained.

Callie popped her head next to feral with a worried look, "He's right!"

"I'm in command here!" Feral growled. He turned the chopper towards the monsters.

T-Bone gaped as he watched the chopper lower, "I think he's blown us off."

Feral fired a missile at one of the creatures, it exploded into tiny pieces but like the first one it split into two but this time the two creatures had only one eye each.

Razor growled, "Now's he's done it." He shook his head at Feral's reckless decision.

The three creatures stomped there way out of Megakat Park, heading there way towards the city.

Razor sighed, 'how on earth can we beat these things if they just turn into more, were gonna need a miracle here.'

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Megakat City Subway

The sound of a motorcycle engine echoed around the dark tunnel, a figure clad in Black and gray flight suit some would think he's a Swat Kat but up close you would think different.

The dark figure speed threw the subway system; he kept on the long catwalk that was next to the train tracks, this way he won't run into any trains.

"Alright Shadow, this is it! No screw ups and don't get caught." Shadow pulled down on the accelerator speeding faster down the subway system.

Shadow clicked on a button on the side of his helmet, listening to the Swat Kats frequency, he heard Razor say that there are three monsters now and there heading towards Megakat Bio Chemical Lab, he growled under his breath, 'great now we got more to deal with…" he thought.

He heard Razor sounding confused, "Hey where'd the other one go?"

He listened to them using the X-Ray Beam he looked at his radar, he was close but not close enough for them to see him, "Oh no, one's in the subway!" Razor shouted.

Shadow perked his ears, "Crud looks like one is heading my way!" as soon as he said it he saw the one eye creature running down the tracks heading straight towards him.

He gasped; he pressed the brakes on his bike, then accelerated it to turn around quickly.

The creature roared, seeing the dark figure turn tail, chasing after him.

Shadow growled lightly, 'Okay change of plans.' He winced at a light coming down the tunnel, he saw the subway train barreling down the tracks, luckily, he was still on the catwalk besides the tracks but the creature wasn't.

The train zipped right passed him, pulling on the brakes, he watched the train stop suddenly, the driver had applied the emergency brakes just in time.

The creature roared at the machinery angered that his prey got away, he smashed his arm threw the window, Shadow heard the screams of the civilians inside, he lowered his visor and zipped in front of the train.

"Let's see how it likes this!" he pressed a button on his Cyclotron, a small missile fired at the creature, it went right threw it much to Shadow's annoyance but the flame from the back of the missile had caused the creature to screech in pain. 'So it doesn't like heat huh?'

The creature looked at Shadow roaring in anger he took his arm out of the train and started to run towards Shadow.

"Shit." He muttered he turns his bike around quickly then zoomed down the subway system, the creature was still behind him screaming in anger.

Shadow remembered what the fire of the missile did and what Callie and Feral did to it, it was just as he thought it was a giant bacteria firing at it caused it to multiply or not affect it at all, there was only two ways he could destroy it using extreme heat or anti-biotics.

He thought about using his match head missile's but he found a better idea, the Subway uses a third rail to power it's self and if he ran over the rail with his bike, it would conduct and fry that monster with two thousand bolts of electricity without wasting a missile. He gasped at a familiar vigilante zipping down the track towards him.

It was Razor on his Cyclotron, "Oh Crap!" Shadow quickly clicked on his voice changer and waved Razor to turn around.

Razor looked up from his Cyclotron visor and gasped seeing some figure in the dimly lit subway, he couldn't make out his outfit but he saw the bacteria monster chasing him.

"What in the?" Razor couldn't finish his sentence he quickly turned around and was now next to the figure. "Who are you!" he shouted at the figure. But he got a good look at the figure's outfit it looked almost similar to his flight suit and his Bike looked almost exactly like his.

The figure shook his head, "Heat will destroy it!" he said loud enough for Razor to hear.

Razor blinked in surprise, the creature was made out of bacteria and heat could destroy it. But why should he trust this guy for all he know he might be the cause of it, but seeing as how the creature was closing in he had no choice.

He had an idea by using the Subway's third rail if he can conduct enough electricity he should be able to fry this bacteria monster!

Razor pulled behind Shadow unto the third rail his bike caused friction unto the rail creating a rain of sparks, Shadow looked behind him for a second seeing the creature turn a dark orange color, it roared in agony then turned into a crusty ooze.

"Bingo!" Razor laughed in astonishment, 'I can't believe that worked.' He perked his head to the sound of a roaring engine, he saw the figure speed passed him down the subway at break neck speed.

'Who was that guy?' he snapped out of his thoughts as his partner T-Bone called him, "Razor! What's cooking down there?" T-Bone asked threw radio. Razor looked down the tunnel and saw the figure was gone

He answered his partner's call, "French-Fried Bacteria! Rendez-vous in T-minus, Katalina entrance." He jumped his bike unto the station starling civilians. "3, 2, 1!" he counted down as the Turbokat picked up Razor when he made it outside.

"Gotcha!" T-Bone shouted bringing the Turbokat up in the air, "The other two giant zits are closin' in on Megakat Labs!" T-Bone explained to Razor back in his seat.

Razor wanted to tell T-Bone about the figure for helping him down in the subway, but he had more important things to do right now. "I can handle 'em," Razor added.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Shadow speed threw the street's of Megakat City towards Megakat Lab's, but his main thoughts were being discovered by Razor in the subway, 'so much for not getting spotted, but he doesn't know it's me.' He thought pondering on how he helped Razor take down that bacteria monster and saving those people in the subway train.

He smiled lightly, for his first mission he seemed to be doing okay so far, he just had to keep a cool head and don't let it get to his head either, but he still had to keep out of eye sight, he can't risk being seen by one of the Swat Kats again or the enforcers seeing him either.

He ran down the road dodging many parked cars and some astonished citizen's that haven't evacuated yet, he was going to fast for them to get a good look at him making them think he was one of the Swat Kats witch was a good thing.

He saw the lab building closing in, he glanced to his left a little bit seeing the other two bacteria monster's coming in, he looked at the building trying figuring out a way to help without being seen, he noticed some enforcers already firing at the creature's but there was none behind the building.

He thought it was a little odd, but shook it off, he turned right unto a street and some building's hiding his cover so he can sneak threw the back.

Within seconds he arrived behind the building there were a few doors that were raised a couple feet off the ground, it was the parking lot for Semi truck cargo to park and unload into the building.

Shadow noticed a large dumpster in front of a large wall, a perfect place to park and hide his bike from people.

He quickly parked his bike behind the dumpster, making sure people wouldn't be able to see his vehicle, satisfied he raced towards the building he looked up and saw a couple of window's he saw some movement's within a big glass on the top floor, he could make out Ms. Briggs and some Tom in a lab coat.

He saw an enforcer chopper rising from the building's roof, he clicked a button on his helmet so he could see from farther distances it was Feral and Manx 'for some odd reason' he turn off the gadget as he watched them fly off towards the front, he could hear firing from other chopper's.

He had to keep moving, feeling as if something isn't right he aimed his grappling hook to the roof but he noticed a door next to the loading dock was smashed threw.

He leered with suspicion, changing his mind he ran threw the door following the trail of a couple of unconscious scientist's.

He ran down the hall and many flights of stairs threw a couple of window's he saw the Swat Kats take out one of the bacteria monster's.

He was almost out of breath when he finally made it to the top floor, he heard a window breaking and someone screaming, he raced towards the sound and found the scientist being devoured by the bacteria's hand.

"No…" he whispered, he was too late to save him, he nearly gasped in surprised at the familiar green Kat in a lab coat is Dr. Viper and Miss. Briggs shouting in terror.

He saw the creature retreat his hand as the Swat Kats flew over it, seeing as how they have there paws full with that creature he had to save Callie from Dr. Viper.

Dr. Viper was collecting vials of some chemical labeled 'Katalyst 99' he had no idea what it was for but whatever it was it can't be good in Viper's claws.

Callie recovered from the monster breaking threw the glass, she saw Dr. Viper grabbing a couple vials of Katalyst 99, she growled, "You won't get away with this, Dr Viper!" she shouted pointing at the omega.

Viper hissed, "No, Miss. Briggs. It's you who won't get away!" he reached for her with his long tail. Callie gasped in fear then out of nowhere a metal object came out of nowhere leaving a gash on viper's tail.

Viper hissed, "Who-!" he was interrupted when another metal sharp object came hurling towards him, he dodged it but fell on his backside doing so.

Viper got unto his feet, hissing in anger, "Who is responsible for this!" he shouted, then he saw a purple ball being thrown in clouds of smoke bursting from it, it blinded Viper as he slashed his claws in the air trying to clear the air.

Miss Briggs couldn't see anything then a black-gloved paw grabbed her wrist, she nearly screamed when something covered her mouth, "Its okay, I'm here to get you out of here." The figure whispered to her, she nodded and he released her mouth.

He tried to drag her out of the room, but the wind from a couple of enforcer propeller's blew the smoke away.

Viper looked around as the smoke cleared, he saw the kat in a black suit trying to escape with Miss Briggs, he hissed in anger, "You will not get away Miss Briggs!" he whipped his tail towards the Black suited Swat Kat.

Shadow and Callie dodged the attack moving them away from the door.

Shadow pulled out a square object with a handle in the middle of it from his belt he pressed the button and out came a metal rod with a circle of teeth coming out from the tip.

Callie gasped in shock, she saw the suited figure for the first time, she thought it was one of the Swat Kat's but his outfit was different clad in Black and gray then Blue and red, 'Who is this guy?' she thought.

He held his weapon with a reverse grip holding it tight, he was ready for a fight he glanced out the window seeing the Turbokat flying towards them, Viper was about to attack when he saw the large aircraft crash into the building.

Viper was hit by the aircraft sending him flying into the wall, he groaned in pain.

Callie jumped out of the way of the crashing aircraft; there was some smoke and debris clouding her vision.

T-Bone jumped out of the Aircraft next to Callie, "Are you alright Miss Briggs?" he placed a protective paw around her.

Callie looked up at the burly Swat Kat she looked around for the figure that saved her but he was gone.

T-Bone glared at Viper, "Games over, Dr. Viper!" T-Bone shouted, Razor was on top of the Turbokat pointing a Bazooka at Viper.

Viper grabbed two vials Katalyst 99 that was near by, he started shaking them both, "Still one more play!"

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

Shadow arrived at the hanger before the Swat Kats did, he quickly parked his bike inside his hidden lair near the runway, once he parked the bike, he quickly changed out of his suit back into the clothes he had on earlier.

He quickly made up into the main hanger then up the latter into the garage he made it to the couch in the main lobby he flopped on the couch and sighed a breath of relief.

"Man that was a workout…" he thought he smelled his arm he winced at the smell of sweat, among other things…

He groaned, sinking lower in his seat, he willed himself off the couch towards the upstairs bathroom.

Once he made it to the bathroom, he heard a faint roar of the Turbokat near the house, he sighed as he hopped in the shower.

He quickly finished then dressed himself in the same clothes he put on today, he walked downstairs back into the garage he heard the sound of his guardians chatting in the lobby.

"Then he told me the only way to defeat the bacteria monster's was with heat from the electric rail in the subway." Jake explained to Chance.

Chance hummed placing his paw on his chin, "That is defiantly strange…" Chance shook his head, "What is his motive?"

Jake thought of the times he saw the strange figure, he didn't get more of a good look from the subway but Callie explained what he looked like clad in a dark suit, his helmet had a crescent shaped visor over his eyes, and she was almost positive that he had brown fur.

"I don't know buddy, but he doesn't seem like he means harm, maybe he just wants to help." He shrugged.

Chance shook his head, "But we don't know that, he disappears before we any of us can see him, so far only you and Callie saw him and the fact that he disappeared when we crashed in kinda makes me suspicious." He crossed his arms over his chest. "Just because an enforcer has a badge doesn't mean he's all good, you know that as well as I do."

Jake frowned thinking what his partner said, he could be right he thought, "Well were not completely sure but so far he hasn't harmed anyone in fact he saved a bunch of people in that subway train and he didn't take anything from the lab either." Jake looked at Chance seeing the small glare in his eyes. "Look I don't know about him as much as you do, so far he's done nothing but good and even if he goes rouge we can take him!"

Chance sighed, "I guess…"

Garrett decided now was the time to come in, "Hey, your back." The two tom's turn there heads towards the door.

Jake smiled, "Hey Garrett, I'm surprised you weren't down in the hanger today."

Garrett chuckled feeling a little nervous, "I was, but I kinda stank so I took a quick shower." He took a seat next to Chance.

Jake cocked his head to the side, "Didn't you take a shower a little bit ago?"

Garrett blinked, hiding the shocked look on his face, "uh…"

Chance gave the kit a suspicious look, "What did you do while we were gone?" he asked with suspicion in his tone.

Garrett notice the same look of suspicion with Jake, he tried to think of a idea on why he took another shower then an idea struck him, he sighed putting on an act. "Okay, okay, when you guys were gone I uh…" he lowered his head, "I used the inside obstacle course today because I thought I could get into shape while you guys were gone and do some target practice." He said with a sheepish look on his face.

Jake's eyes went wide, "You used it?" The obstacle course inside the hanger was more intense then the one outside and more dangerous.

Garrett raised his paws in defense, "But I set it to easy so it was just target practice and a few movement courses, not the more lethal kinds."

Chance pointed a stern finger at the kit, "We told you to never use that when were not watching."

Garrett lowered his ears, 'crap way to go now you're in trouble for something you didn't do.'

Jake sighed, "Well Chance, he said it was on low setting so there was nothing lethal in the course." He looked at Garrett "however you still broke a rule and we can't let this go unpunished."

Garrett groaned he was about to protest but didn't feel like starting an argument right now, "What's my punishment?" he said low in defeat.

Jake looked at Chance for a second then back at the kit, "Well since you put the course on easy there was nothing lethal in it to hurt you and you did told us the truth so your punishment is a few extra choirs for a few days and washing the sedan and tow truck."

Chance nodded in agreement, "And a few exercises every morning until Thursday."

Garrett sighed, "Fine…" he whispered, 'at least its better then them finding out it was you that helped them.' Garrett decided to change the subject, "So were did those giant glob things came from?" he asked even though he knew who caused it he just wanted to seem curious making them think he didn't know.

Jake cleared his throat; he explained to Garrett that Dr Viper was the cause of this including the strange Tom who helped them during the mission in the subway and saving Callie.

Garrett pretended to be surprised, "Dr. Viper was the cause of it?" Jake nodded, "And your telling me some guy in a black suit helped you guys?" Chance nodded.

Garrett gave them a disbelief look trying to pretend he didn't know what they were talking about, "That's really weird, Viper stealing some chemicals and now some weird dude walking around." He shook his head, "Ya'll just can't have normal day, can ya?" he chuckled.

The two toms laughed, "Comes with the job." Chance said, "Man after all that I'm starving." He said as his stomach growled.

Garrett rolled his eyes, "All right I'll see what I can whip up." He got up from his seat then headed towards the kitchen.

Jake looked as his partner when the teen was out of ear shot, "Am I the only one who was surprised he broke a rule on us?"

Chance turned to look at Jake blinking his eyes, "Yea…I was a little surprised seemed unlike him to do something like that…even if he did set the setting on low." He shrugged.

Jake lowered his ears a little bit, "I don't know, I was just thinking maybe we were a little harsh…I mean he did tell us the truth…"

Chance knew where he was going with this, he sighed and shook his head, "I know but he told us when we caught him, he didn't really have much of a choice."

Jake chuckled, "Spoken from experience?"

Chance looked wriggled his nose in slight irritation. "Whatever…I'm just saying we can't expect him to follow all the rules, I mean he is a teenager you know, we all went threw that rebellious stage in our life's, we need to keep an extra eye on him with all this Swat Kat equipment in the hanger he could hurt himself while were gone."

Jake sighed then nodded in agreement, "Okay I see what you mean, if he start's acting up we'll set him straight but we can't have too many rules otherwise he will start acting up."

Chance nodded, "I know we need to set a balance of rules and freedom, we should have a talk with him later to set some rules down."

"Yea, I much as I don't want too, but it's for Garrett's safety." Jake agreed he heard the teen humming to a song in the kitchen, feeling a little guilty for restraining him but he had to do what was right, even if he doesn't want too. He sighed, "This sucks."


	19. Important Author's Note!

Hey guys sorry for the lack of activity.

I've been very busy as of late, I have a job and going threw school and it's taking up a lot of my time.

As for the chapter's I'm still working on it, I have not giving up on this, I had three chapter's ready but unfortunately my old laptop stopped working and I can no longer access it, so I have a new one and I have start over from scratch, so you understand why I'm taking so long.

I promise I'll get back to working on Another Side when I have spare time, to everyone who's stuck by to this story I want to thank you :) it warms my heart knowing you guys haven't given up on me. Hopefully I'll get the next chapter up and pull even more surprises for the Swat Kats and Shadow, stay tuned!


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